


Adagio

by PeachChapstick



Series: Avengers En Pointe [1]
Category: Daredevil (TV), Marvel Cinematic Universe, Runaways (Comics), The Avengers (Marvel Movies), The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types, The Defenders (Marvel TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Ballet, Ballet, Dancing, F/M, Falling In Love, Feelings, LGBTQ Character, LGBTQ Themes, Love, M/M, Music, No Smut, Trumpet, Work In Progress, dance, pit orchestra
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-18
Updated: 2020-11-15
Packaged: 2021-03-06 01:54:05
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 15
Words: 37,607
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25961656
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/PeachChapstick/pseuds/PeachChapstick
Summary: After six years of separation, Steve Rodgers and Bucky Barnes are reunited through their jobs with the Minneapolis Ballet Company. Only, Bucky refuses to forgive Steve and Steve still acts like a trumpet player.
Relationships: James "Bucky" Barnes & Matt Murdock, James "Bucky" Barnes & Natasha Romanov, James "Bucky" Barnes/Steve Rogers, Matt Murdock & Elektra Natchios, Matt Murdock & Steve Rogers, Matt Murdock/Natasha Romanov, Natasha Romanov & Tony Stark, Steve Rogers & Natasha Romanov, Steve Rogers & Sam Wilson
Series: Avengers En Pointe [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2052474
Comments: 6
Kudos: 42





	1. Chapter 1 - Bucky

**Author's Note:**

> Hi everyone! This is my first attempt at a fanfiction since taking a long break from writing, so please don't be too harsh. I just wanted to write a fanfic I would like to read, so I came up with this. I hope you enjoy, and thank you for reading!

Steve Rogers thought he was hot shit. No, not even hot shit. He thought he was _the_ shit. That, among a handful of other reasons, was why Bucky Barnes swore they could never be friends again. Steve served in the US Army for six years before leaving on a dishonorable discharge. Of course, he was actually considered hot shit back then, serving as the head trumpet his entire career. Now, for the Minneapolis Ballet Company, he was their main trumpet player and, really, the main brass guy in general. 

Bucky Barnes, on the other hand, joined the Minneapolis Ballet Company after graduating from their academy and dancing with the Minneapolis Ballet Company II for two years. Now, he was a lowly corps de ballet member. Or, was, until now. When auditions for Swan Lake came around, Bucky was determined to play Prince Siegfried himself. Somehow, he got lucky and got the part. Now, his “luck” was actually probably due to his recent inspiration to constantly condition and stretch, but it was still exciting. To add to the excitement, his best friend Natasha was playing Odette. That meant they’d get to spend more time hanging out together than they already did. The only problem with Natasha was she always pushed Steve onto Bucky. Always.

“I don’t understand what your problem with him is,” Natasha announced, sauntering into Bucky’s dressing room after a long day of rehearsals. Yes, he now had _his own dressing room_. It was the highlight of his career, just barely beating the time he slipped and fell on stage at a competition in high school.

“You don’t understand what my problem is with him?” Bucky asked. “Where should I begin? For starters, he’s a stuck up dick.”

Natasha sucked in air through her teeth. “Oof, harsh. When was the last time you even talked to him? High school? He took me out to shawarma last weekend and it was a great time. He even drove and paid for my meal. And never grossly complimented my tits or ass. Unlike half the other guys here, he’s a real gentleman.”

“That’s what you said about Benjamin Poindexter and look how that ended up.”

Natasha sighed and sat on Bucky’s vanity, kicking her legs back and forth. “Okay, I thought we agreed to not bring up Dex anymore. That guy was something else. Besides, Steve is a lot better looking than him.”

“Objectively. And being hot doesn’t make someone a good person, Tasha,” Bucky lectured.

Dex was a guy Natasha had dated when Bucky first got accepted into the Minneapolis Ballet II. He had a great smile and jawline, but that was all Bucky could say about him if he wanted to remain kind. Well, and that he was good in bed, but that was from Nat’s experience and not his own. He was a great baseball player, forced to leave the game due to the “accidental” murder of another player. When Bucky and Natasha knew him, he was a TSA agent. Some brief life advice, don’t date a murderer. Working for the government and having strong cheekbones does not make someone a good person.

“But if it did, Steve would be a saint. Actually, he’s already a saint. I think you should give him a second chance, Buck. You deserve to be happy. _Steve_ could make you happy,” Natasha said.

Bucky sighed. “I understand that you think that will make me happy, but I’m happy now. I’m happy because I don’t have to deal with all Steve’s shit anymore. Plus I’ve got the role of my dreams. And you.”

“You could have a hunky trumpet player, too,” Natasha suggested, wiggling her eyebrows at him.

Laughing and gently swatting Natasha’s shoulder, Bucky got up to look at the photos pinned to his dressing room wall. Bucky and Nat. Nat. Nat and Matt. Bucky and Steve in middle school. Bucky dwelled on that last picture longer than he did the others, thinking back to a time before everything got so complicated. With a soft sigh, Bucky stripped the picture off the wall, carelessly discarding it on the floor. He didn’t want to think about Steve at all, which includes reminiscing on the past when things were good.

Nat had been the one to put those pictures up, which explained how he let one Steve picture slip through. He would’ve let the wall remain blank if she hadn’t dug through all his photos. The photo represented what used to be and it felt like it was mocking him; so much so that he felt the need to tear it up or burn it, it was still mocking him from the floor. What he and Steve used to have felt like a joke at this point.

“Things can go back to normal, you know,” Natasha said softly, suddenly standing behind Bucky. “You know it wasn’t his fault; he’s a better person now. Forgive him. Move on. It’s what he wants, too.”

Bucky ignored Natasha and pushed past her to grab his duffel bag. “I really don’t need this right now, Tasha. I’ve got a major role to prepare; I don’t have time to dwell on the past. I’m not upset with him for that anymore. I’m upset that he hasn’t changed: I’m just upset that he’s still a dick.”

Before Natasha could protest, Bucky had turned off the lights and was walking out of his own dressing room. Nat rolled her eyes and murmured, “Drama queen.”

Bucky’s apartment was nothing extravagant, due to the fact that he couldn’t afford anything fancy with his corps de ballet paycheck. All his furniture was from Ikea, and there wasn’t even much of that. The kitchen had a bar, so he didn’t have a table and chairs. There was a couch, but no chairs or side tables to accompany it. His room had a bed and dresser with a lamp, but that was all he cared to have. Nat always promised that she’d decorate it for him, but it hadn’t happened yet. Just like his dressing room, his apartment was filled with pictures. Natasha had put them up in chronological order for him one weekend, and he just never took them down. If he was being completely honest, they’d grown on him and he loved looking at them now. It was comforting to be surrounded by everyone he loved in an empty apartment. Only, he still didn’t want to see Steve Rogers’ face.

The problem was, everywhere Bucky went, Steve was there. They grew up as next door neighbors and best friends; a little more than just best friends, if Bucky was being honest with himself. When the friendship ended, they still lived next door. Eventually, Bucky got accepted into the Minneapolis Ballet II and Steve into the army band, and they had a little break from each other. A much needed break, at that. Now he was back.

Bucky’s main problem with Steve was that he always thought he was right. (In Bucky’s experience, he was only right about 25% of the time). Never once did he apologize for anything he did to Bucky. Yeah, he was pretty much a dick. A dick who was sending him text messages right now.

_Hey, Nat told me you’re upset with me. Not sure what I did wrong. Maybe I can make it up to you this weekend?_

Bucky scoffed and dialed Natasha’s number. He wasn’t a fan of Steve, but he didn’t need Steve to know about his beef. Steve felt superior to everyone as it was, so he didn’t want to give him more reason to. Knowing someone was mad at him would just fuel his narcissistic personality.

After a few too many rings for Bucky’s liking, Natasha picked up her phone. “Hey, Bucky. What’s up?”

“I just got a message from one Steve Rogers. You told him I’m still upset with him?” Bucky asked, pacing around his bedroom.

“It came up in casual conversation after you stormed off like a four year old. He just happened to be in my dressing room and saw that I was annoyed with you. It wasn’t like I sought him out. Stop being dramatic about this, Buck. It’s not that big of a deal,” Natasha reasoned.

“Considering _I_ am the one calling _you_ and not the other way around, you should know I don’t want reason right now. But, yeah, you’re right: I’m not gonna get mad at you over it. I mean, I’m still pissy with him but whatever, I’ve never _not_ been pissy with him. I never even see him. Wanna come over and order out to take my mind off of it?” Bucky proposed.

Natasha smiled into the phone. “Honestly, I thought you’d never ask. And, yes, we are watching _Versace_ again.”

Just like that, Bucky had a date planned for the night. He went to pick up his apartment before he remembered he owned barely anything that didn’t relate to his job, meaning the only thing he had to do was put his dirty laundry in a basket. Maybe Nat would get around to decorating his apartment for him eventually.

Natasha only lived a few blocks over, so it wasn’t long before she was barging into his apartment. She tended to walk in like she owned the place. Moments like that made Bucky regret giving her a key all those years ago.

Sauntering into the room, Natasha kicked her shoes off and set a bottle of sparkling grape juice on his counter. “It’s for your health,” she explained. “Prince Siegfried can’t have anything other than perfect physique, you know.”

Bucky put his hand over his chest and said, fake offended, “As if I don’t already.”

Natasha would be annoyingly perfect if Bucky was a woman, but he didn’t really feel any jealousy towards her. Her hair was bright red, naturally so, and perfectly curled with no use of heat or product. Her eyes were a beautiful shade of sea foam green and her smile was seductive, yet addictive. Not to mention the fact that her body was ideally shaped. And she had the best lines of anyone in the company. And was always super kind and generous to everyone. And somehow managed to eat and drink whatever she wanted without losing her physique. Yeah, she was pretty much perfect.

“Seriously, though, Buck,” Nat said. “You need to cut out alcohol, if you haven’t already.”

“You need to take the stick out of your ass. I’m fine,” Bucky responded. “Besides, everyone knows you’re the best we have and you tend to go clubbing every weekend.”

Nat smiled at him. “Hey, it does work for me buuuuut that doesn’t mean it’s good. I’ll cut it out once I stop being so bored all the time.”

Natasha plopped down next to him, turning on the tv and swinging her legs on top of his. She opened up Netflix and started the third episode of _The Assassination of Gianni Versace_ . Nat had been a fan of Darren Criss since his _Glee_ days, so she forced Bucky to start watching it with her. He only put up with it because of his love for Natasha, but he ended up falling in love with everything about it: the cinematography, the acting, the story, and the way it brings light to the issues in the gay community.

After an episode, too much kung pao chicken, and not enough alcohol, it was time for things to get fun. Fun meaning having conversations that can only occur at night, such as what happens after death and how global warming will likely end the world in the next 30 years.

They started the conversation lightly, with some discussion of what will happen in the company in the next few years, as Nat was doing her nightly stretches on the floor and Bucky lounged on the couch, scrolling aimlessly through his Instagram feed. Halfway through his feed, he saw an interesting post from Nat’s understudy, Elektra.

“Uh… Tasha?” Bucky asked.

Natasha remained in her straddle and only hummed in response.

“Have you, uh, been on Instagram recently?” Bucky questioned.

Natasha looked up at him. “How recently?”

“Very. Elektra posted something… questionable,” Bucky stated.

“Everything Elektra posts is questionable,” Natasha scoffed. “Show me.”

Bucky held out his phone to her, revealing what Elektra had posted. It was a clip of Elektra performing the iconic thirty two fouettes from Swan Lake in Nat’s Odile costume. She looked gorgeous, but that wasn’t the point. She was wearing a costume that wasn’t her own, and the caption made it even worse. “Catch me in Swan Lake next month.” Elektra was known to be extremely jealous of everyone, but mainly Nat. Elektra had been the star of her studio before coming to the company, so she wasn’t used to not being the center of attention.

“I mean, there’s not _really_ anything wrong with that,” Natasha reasoned. “I mean, she will be in Swan Lake next month. To be honest, I don’t have that much of a problem with her wearing my costume, either.”

“She didn’t ask, it’s rude,” Bucky explained.

Nat rolled her eyes. “We already knew she was rude. She’s been rude ever since I stole the guy she wanted. Well, stole is her word and not mine. He never wanted her in the first place. I do have to give it to her, though, she’s got great feet.”

“Just the kind of person I need for my Ariana Grande ballet,” Bucky said.

If there would’ve been anything in Nat’s mouth when he said that, it would’ve been all over the floor by now. “Your _what_?”

“Naaat,” Bucky groaned. “I’m pretty sure we’ve gone over this. I think we should do a ballet choreographed to Ariana’s best songs.”

“Where the hell would you get an idea like that?” Natasha asked.

“Remember that brief road trip we went on? To the Twin Cities Ballet Company? Well, it would be like that ballet,” Bucky explained.

“Thanks for that vague answer.”

“But seriously, didn’t you think of the two of us when you watched the Monopoly music video?”

“I think you’re delusional.”

“I just like ballets with vocal music. They’re modern and cool.”

“You just like not having an orchestra because that means Steve isn’t there.”

“I’m not that obsessed with him.”

“You’re that obsessed with Ariana Grande, though.”

“Pretty much, yeah.”

The couple sat in silence for a few moments, a rare occurrence for them. It didn’t take long for the silence to become deafening, forcing Bucky to speak up. “God, I hate Elektra so much. More than anyone else, and that includes your precious Steve Rogers. You know, maybe I should give him a second chance, hear his side of the story.”

Nat smiled. “See? You two would be cute together. I can picture the wedding now.”

Bucky made a face at her. “No way that’s happening. I’m just gonna let him apologize, that’s it. But he has to be the one to come to me.”

“I could arrange that,” Nat speculated. 

“No way,” Bucky refused. “I want a natural apology. Just him approaching me after a rehearsal or something, spilling his heart to me over everything he’s ever done to me since elementary school. Because he wants to, not because a hot girl told him to.”

Nat, raising her eyebrows and laughing, asked, “You think I’m hot?”

“Objectively.”

“I’m just gonna ignore that comment. Hey, I don’t think we ever opened our fortune cookies. I actually know we never did. They’d be sitting on your coffee table if you had one, but they’re currently on the dirty floor,” Nat said.

“Hey, I dig the minimalistic look. Besides, you’re the one who promised to decorate it,” Bucky objected. “Toss me a cookie. Make sure it wasn’t crushed by your oversplits.”

Natasha rolled her eyes at him, but still threw him the cookie. Overhand. And a little too hard.

“Dude, you just crushed my cookie with that throw. Not okay,” Bucky protested.

Natasha laughed. “Easier for you to reach the fortune, then.” She cracked open her cookie, reading the fortune before digging in. “‘Take care of yourself first. Then help others.’ How telling. Looks like it’s time for me to become selfish. Buck, this means you get no more emotional support from now on.”

“Maybe it means you should yell at Elektra for stealing your costume before you compliment her,” Bucky suggested. 

“Hey, I don’t want to start any more beef with her than what she’s already created,” Nat protested. “Besides, I literally do not care about her or anything she does.”

Bucky opened his cookie and furrowed his brow at it. “‘It’s always the one you least expect.’ What does that even mean? I’m scared. Are you about to kill me?”

“Buck, I’m, like, 70% sure that’s from Beauty and the Beast.”

“So this is plagiarism or something?”

“I feel like you need a Xanax. Do you need me to go get you a Xanax?”

“Oh, chill. I just don’t like fortunes. I believe in fate and all, but I know someone just made this up. I only like the cookies, not the stupid sayings. And anyways, you’ve got me all riled up with all this Steve and Elektra talk. They’re the ones you should be offering your Xanax to.”

“You’re wack. I don’t get you.”

“You don’t have to. And for the record, I don’t really get you, either. All I know is that I’m bored with everything other than this new role and I’m going to find something new to entertain me.”

“And I’m sure you will. You always tend to bring something new and exciting into our lives.”

At that, Bucky pulled his phone back out. He closed Elektra’s Instagram and pulled up his texts, his thumb hovering over Steve’s contact. Making a split second decision, he sent a message.

_Saturday at seven works for me._


	2. Chapter 2 - Steve

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Steve does his best to make things better, even if he thinks he did nothing wrong.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi everyone! Thank you so much for continuing to read this story. It means a lot to me that anyone would care enough about the story to read more. I hope you enjoy reading from Steve's point of view. Enjoy!

Bucky Barnes had a metal arm, and it always caused weird reflections under the stage lights. For real performances they made him cover it up to prevent blinding someone, but not for rehearsals. Steve would never admit it, but it pissed him off sometimes. He’d be rehearsing for the upcoming show and bam, he’d be suddenly blinded. It was agitating, but he’d never express it to anyone. It was his fault, after all.

Ever since the incident in which Bucky lost his arm, he stopped talking to Steve. It was fine during the years where Steve was in the army, but not anymore. Now it was just annoying. Steve would try to reconnect with Bucky, but none of his efforts were ever successful. In fact, he was left on read for multiple hours when he tried to repair things after Nat told him things would soon be beyond repair if he didn’t do anything fast. The only person who understood the situation was Sam, and only because he was in high school with them. He watched everything go down from the sidelines. Sam and Steve had served together, so they remained friends into adulthood. Now, Sam was a social worker in the city, sharing a nice home in the suburbs with Steve. They weren’t together or anything, they just didn’t want to pay full rent.

“I am going to go crazy,” Steve announced, walking into their two bedroom home one afternoon after rehearsal.

Sam was in the kitchen, cooking something that smelled like a mix of curry, chocolate, and home. “Let me guess, Bucky?” he asked, throwing a rainbow of vegetables into a frypan.

“Of course. Who else would it be? Molly?”

“She’s adorable, I love that girl.”

“So, I went to talk to Nat after rehearsal, wanting to talk about this one weird part in the first act,” Steve started. “She wasn’t in there right away, so I waited a little while. I just sat on my phone, looked through her costumes a little. Turns out those things are a lot more intricate than expected, you can’t even see all that from the audience. Anyways, she came in after ten or so minutes, and I could tell something happened.”

“Something with Bucky?” Sam asked.

Steve rolled his eyes. “Who else would it be? Bucky’s been causing a lot of problems recently, but what else is new. So, she goes on and on about how upset with me Bucky is, but I haven’t even done anything. He always avoids me so it’s not like I even have the opportunity to do something to make him upset. I’ve reached out to him so many times and he never wants to speak with me. He literally just ignores me.”

“Have you tried apologizing?” Sam asked, putting dinner on the table.

Steve stared at him, dumbfounded. “You think that’s what this is about? The fact that I haven’t apologized? I thought he was over that by now.”

Sam grabbed two beers from the fridge. “He lost his arm because of you. You gotta apologize.”

Steve sat down at the table and began to load up his plate. He didn’t want to talk about this anymore, not if Sam was going to make him feel guilty about his high school mistakes. He didn’t feel the need to apologize, not after what Bucky had done to him, too. He figured they were even by now. Besides, Steve had reached out to him countless times to try and fix their relationship and Bucky was the one who chose to ignore it. In fact, he reached out right after Nat lectured him and was left on read. 

“Look, I’m not going to try to set you two up like Natasha does, but I do think you need to do something,” Sam said, piling food onto his plate. “And before you can protest, I know you’ve tried. But you need to try harder if you want things to go back to how they used to be.”

Steve frowned. “I don’t understand why this is all being put on me when Bucky’s equally capable of reaching out and fixing things. It’s not just one sided.”

“To be fair, what he did was not nearly as bad as what you did. I’d probably still be mad too, if it were me. What you did literally affects his everyday life, whereas what he did was inconvenient for you in the moment.”

Though he would never admit it, Steve knew Sam was right. What Bucky did was more of an annoyance than anything, but sometimes annoyances still require apologies. In fact, he was probably ignoring Steve just to avoid apologizing. All the talk and thoughts of Bucky just kept making Steve more agitated, even more so than when Nat told him how Bucky felt. He quickly ate his dinner, making small talk with Sam about nothing important enough to be remembered. He loaded up the dishwasher (he always did his best to make sure he and Sam evenly shared chores) and went up to his room to sulk.

Steve’s room was, not to brag, pretty freaking nice. It was nice enough that he could live in that room alone and be content for the rest of his life. Actually, more than just content: he’d be happy. Everything was white and clean. His bed, located directly underneath his window, was always perfectly made with an excessive amount of pillows. All his books on his bookshelf had special covers to make them some variation of gray. His cabinet for sheet music was organized alphabetically and was further color coded by difficulty. He liked to keep everything in his room perfect. 

Steve’s favorite part of his bedroom, among all the perfectness, was his fluffy white rug. He felt like it just tied everything together perfectly, so that’s where he decided to sit. For Swan Lake, Steve had to play three different types of trumpet: D, F, and E. It wasn’t abnormal for him to play multiple instruments in one show, or even multiple variations of the same instrument, but it was always a little annoying to him. Of course, he had chosen this job where he knew it would be like that, but a small part of him missed when all he had to do was play on a B♭ trumpet all day. The occasional wedding would commission Steve to play at the ceremony, but it still didn’t quite quench his thirst. That’s how he ended up playing The Carnival of Venice for the millionth time while sitting on his fluffy rug.

Music was amazing because it allowed Steve to express all his emotions without ever having to cry or yell at anyone. After Bucky decided he was done with Steve in high school, Steve really poured himself into his music. It was the only way he knew how to cope. High school Steve never would’ve imagined he’d still be wasting hours over Bucky years after graduation. But somehow Bucky always remained rent free in Steve’s mind.

Seeing as The Carnival of Venice wasn’t enough to get over Bucky, Steve decided to call Wanda. Wanda was one of the clarinet players in the pit and acted just like one. Not only was she sweet and timid, she also had huge brown eyes and gorgeous red hair. For some reason everyone working for the company was attractive, not just the dancers. No one understood how Wanda and Steve became friends, but no one really questioned it. 

“Steve?” Wanda asked. “Is something wrong? We just saw each other at rehearsal.” 

Steve smiled a little, happy to see she cared about him. “No, no, nothing’s wrong. I just needed something to take my mind off of everything else going on.”

“I’m so glad, you really had me scared there,” Wanda said.

“Hey, nothing’s ever wrong with me, I’m always perfect. Well, relatively. I’m always perfect other than Bucky,” Steve remarked.

“Please don’t be too anti-Bucky, he’s always so sweet to me. I like him.”

“But he’s rude to me. I texted him a while ago and he left me on read. He literally read it as soon as I sent it.”

“You can’t be mad at someone for not responding right away, Steve. He could just be busy.”

“He never does anything. He doesn’t have a boyfriend, Nat is practically his only friend, and he doesn’t have hobbies other than his career.” Suddenly Steve’s phone vibrated with a text message. “Oh, uhhhh, I gotta go, Wanda. I’ll talk to you at rehearsal tomorrow.”

Before Wanda could say goodbye, Steve hung up on her to check his messages. To his surprise, this last message was the first of hundreds that Bucky had bothered to respond to. Saturday at 7 Steve was gonna go to Bucky’s apartment to pick him up and bring him to a fancy restaurant or something. Maybe a place to get good Chinese food, that was one of Bucky’s favorites in high school. Steve used to drive him two hours so they could get the best food. But that was then, before everything happened. 

Steve walked out to the living room to share the good news with Sam, even if his response wasn’t the most positive. And Steve was right, the response wasn’t the most positive.

“So what the hell are you going to do now?” Sam asked. “He’s not going to forgive you unless you apologize for everything you’ve done, which includes taking so long to apologize.You’re gonna have to put in a lot of work to fix this.”

“I think that he’s ready to move on, Sam. If he weren’t he wouldn’t agree to see me again. We can both just get over the things that have gone down between us and become friends again. It’s, like, destined that we’ll be friends,” Steve responded.

Sam rolled his eyes and leaned back against his seat. “Here’s the thing though, he’s most likely expecting that you’re inviting him out to apologize to him. Like, you kinda gave the impression that that’s why you were going to meet up.”

“If he thought that, that’s his own issue,” Steve remarked.

“Considering you’re trying to become friends with him again, you’re kinda being a dick to him,” Sam said.

“Hey, he won’t let me be a dick  _ to  _ him, I’m only allowed to be a dick  _ about  _ him. And besides, I’m really not trying to be a dick. I just feel like he also needs to apologize. But both of us could just forget about it and never have to apologize or forgive each other. I think Bucky and I are on the same page about that,” Steve said.

Sam sighed. “You know what? That’s fine. I’m not gonna try to get involved. This is a you issue.”

Sam’s stance on not getting involved held true until Saturday. Steve talked to Wanda about the situation a little bit before, after, or during rehearsal, but never on time that was completely his own. Basically he was left on his own to figure out what he was going to do. After pondering it for a long time, Steve decided the best thing to do would be getting Chinese food to go and then eating it while at the park. He wanted to prove to Bucky that he still remembered things he liked, the first thing being Chinese food. He hoped it would show him that he was ready to move on.

Steve wouldn’t have considered this a date, but he sure felt like it was one. He felt more nervous than what was called for, with a racing heart and turning stomach. He came straight home after rehearsal and took an extra thorough shower. The first real decision he had to make was what to wear. The night wasn’t going to be formal at all, but he still wanted to make sure Bucky thought he looked nice. For that reason, he decided on some nice jeans and a more casual button down shirt. Yeah, this definitely felt like a date.

Sam was making himself dinner in the kitchen when Steve walked through to leave to pick up Bucky. Although he wasn’t very supportive of the way Steve was trying to fix his relationship with Bucky, Sam couldn’t let him leave without saying anything.

“Hey,” Sam called, following Steve to the doorway. “I know I said I was done dealing with this, but I’m not gonna let you leave and fuck things up beyond repair. You need to apologize. Maybe even apologize twice. I don’t care if he doesn’t apologize, you can be the bigger person. He’s never gonna agree to do this again if you don’t apologize.”

Even though it wasn’t what Steve wanted to hear, he still knew that Sam was right. Bucky tended to hold grudges for a long time, obviously. He’d have to be the bigger person if he wanted to make things better.

Steve nodded and squeezed Sam’s shoulder. “Thanks, man. I promise I won’t fuck it up. It means too much to me.”

“I know it does. It’ll be great. I’ll probably be asleep when you get back: please don’t wake me up to tell me how the date went, you can tell me tomorrow,” Sam said.

Steve just smiled in response and went out to his car. The drive to Bucky’s apartment complex wasn’t very long, so Steve didn’t have enough time to listen to a bunch of hype songs to get him prepared. This time, he was listening to  _ break up with your girlfriend, i’m bored  _ by Ariana Grande. It would’ve been more applicable if he was trying to date Bucky and Bucky already had a boyfriend, but it was still a great song. It made him feel stupid, but Steve loved to listen to a bunch of fun music before doing anything he was nervous about. It helped get rid of the pit in his stomach. 

Bucky’s apartment complex was super bland and honestly a little bit sketchy. Steve had never known how much he made, but now he knew it couldn’t be much. There was no elevator and Bucky lived on the fourth floor, so Steve had to do some cardio to get there. He stood in front of his door for at least five minutes before he finally gained the courage to knock. It took him five more minutes to knock for the second time. Only two for the third time. Three for the fourth time. One for the fifth time. 

“Hey, Buck, are you ready to go?” Steve called through the door.

It wasn’t an abnormal thing for Bucky to be late. At least, that was the case in high school. What was abnormal was that he didn’t let Steve know ahead of time.

He checked his phone to make sure he was at the right address. He had the right place, even down to the apartment number.

He sent Bucky a short text asking if he was ready. He wasn’t surprised to get no response.

“Buck, it’s almost 7:30. I don’t even know if you’re home. I’m just gonna go,” Steve called through the door again, a little louder this time.

Even though he said he was going to leave, Steve dwelled outside the door a little longer. He hoped Bucky was sick in the bathroom or something and would come out to leave any minute now. This was his opportunity to fix things and he didn’t want to throw it away. Steve hoped that he didn’t disturb any of the neighbors with his yelling and knocking, so he decided it was better to leave than get yelled at by a local. He walked back out to his car and just sat in it for a while before starting it. 

Steve had just been stood up.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading this chapter! Get ready for the next chapter where Bucky makes his decision to stand Steve up.


	3. Chapter 3 - Bucky

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Bucky decides to stand Steve up, not expecting it to end in confrontation.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi everyone! Thank you so much for your continued support! I'm aiming to update this story about once a week, seeing as I will become busy with school in the next few weeks. I really hope you're enjoying Steve and Bucky's journey as much as I am. Happy reading!

Steve Rogers never did anything if it wouldn’t benefit him. Back in grade school, he’d always give Bucky gifts for no real reason. Well, no reason other than to get praise for being such a thoughtful and generous friend. That’s also why the gifts were always given in public, not private. Stopping being friends with Bucky after his amputation was also only for personal gain. He’d rather have a good reputation than stay friends with his best friend since childhood. This date to make up with Bucky was also only for his own personal gain. He wasn’t sorry or anything, he just didn’t want to deal with Bucky being mad at him anymore. It made him too uncomfortable.

Bucky kept all this in mind as he got ready for Steve to come pick him up. He wanted to look nice to make Steve regret leaving him and not making up with him sooner. He didn’t want to look nice in the sense of being dressed up, he wanted to look nice in the sense of looking hot. It wasn’t warm enough to break out the five inch inseams, so some jeans would have to work. Well, not just any jeans; skinny jeans. Skinny jeans were usually hotter than any other jeans, especially boot cut. In order for a shirt to be hot, it needs to show some arm. Bucky was extremely muscular (as he had to be to lift up women for a living), so he loved showing off the muscles he worked hard for. A red graphic tee from last year’s production of Raymonda was his shirt pick, seeing as it was tight enough to his skin to be sexy but not too tight that it would be weird. He’d also been told that wearing red made people like you more, and that was a risk he was willing to take. He sprayed on his new Burberry cologne and was ready to go. Only, there were still 15 minutes until Steve was scheduled to show up.

The situation was a little more complicated than he was used to, so Bucky was unsure if he was supposed to invite Steve inside or not. Usually he wouldn’t invite someone he didn’t know in, but he used to know Steve. This was an unprecedented situation for him. Just in case, he decided to pick up a little bit. He threw his takeout containers from the week into his trashcan and moved his dance bag into his room. That was pretty much all there was in his apartment. God, he really needed to get more things.

Seeing as there was almost nothing for him to clean up, Bucky didn’t know how to pass the time until Steve showed up. He sat down on the couch, his legs bouncing involuntarily. The last time Steve came to pick him up for a date was the same day he lost his arm. Junior year homecoming. Now that was a memory that Bucky tried to repress. That was all he could think about every time he saw Steve. That aggravatingly perfect face made him relive his most painful night over and over and over. Bucky decided to pull out his phone and aimlessly scroll through Instagram until it was time for Steve to pick him up.

Bucky wasn’t surprised when he saw that Elektra had made another post in one of Nat’s Swan Lake costumes. This time it was in her Odette costume instead of the Odile one. He couldn’t decide if it was better or worse, seeing as Nat would wear it for longer but it was also less unique. Honestly, it wasn’t too different from her own costume. The surprising thing about the post was that Natasha had actually commented, _hey, nice costume_.

Bucky smirked. “Good for her,” he thought.

Well, it looked like Nat’s fortune had come true. She was taking care of her own costumes instead of protecting Elektra. Although it was hard to say if the comment was her own idea or if she was influenced by Bucky’s anger. Or Matt could’ve even told her to tell Elektra off. That would be the most iconic option, seeing how obsessed with Matt Elektra was. It seemed like she would never recover from that rejection.

It wasn’t long before the first knock came at his door. Bucky had lost track of time, so he wasn’t completely ready yet. He pulled on his shoes and walked over to the door. Hand on the door knob, Bucky hesitated. This was the same guy who had shattered his heart, taken his arm from him, and left him completely alone to deal with the aftermath. Why should he go out with him before he even apologizes? It would basically be him saying that Steve didn’t do anything wrong. He stood there, listening to the next four knocks that came.

Then the killer came.

“Hey, Buck, are you ready to go?” Came Steve’s muffled voice from outside the door.

Bucky hadn’t talked to Steve since the first day Steve came to the company, and that wasn’t a pleasant conversation. He wasn’t expecting him to come in with his old nickname. Or sounding so nice. Bucky leaned up against the door and slid down to the floor. As much as it pained him, he knew he couldn’t go with Steve. He had to hold his ground: he couldn’t cave that easily.

His phone buzzed. It was a text from Steve. I’m outside. You ready?

Bucky didn’t dare open the text; he didn’t want Steve to see he was there. He was hoping Steve would assume he wasn’t home and would just leave. That wasn’t the case.

“Buck, it’s almost 7:30. I don’t even know if you’re home. I’m just gonna go.” Steve’s voice was a little louder this time and obviously hurt.

The nickname was really pulling at Bucky’s heartstrings. Even if he was the boy who abandoned him and caused him to lose an arm, he was also the boy who used to come to all of his showcases and competitions. He used to bring Bucky his favorite food when he was sad. He used to support everything Bucky did. He used to be Bucky’s best friend.  
Bucky could feel the tears coming on, but he blinked them back. He was gonna open the door and he couldn’t let Steve see he was emotional. Bucky stood back up and cautiously opened his door. Steve didn’t lie: he had left.

Sunday was the one day of the week that Bucky didn’t have company practice. For the first time since he started his job, he was planning on spending his entire day off in bed. Normally Bucky’s Sundays would be spent with Natasha: pilates, brunch, yoga, and takeout. Natasha had, not surprisingly, called after he didn’t show up for their pilates class. 16 times, to be exact. And Steve had also called. And texted. Bucky felt like a shitty person for standing two people up in less than 24 hours, but he just couldn’t deal with it at the moment.

Hearing Steve’s voice triggered something inside Bucky, but it wasn’t what he’d expected. Steve sounded nice, not upset or rude. It made Bucky want to forgive him on sight. But with no apology, Bucky wouldn’t do anything. Caving in would just show Steve that not apologizing for so long was fine. He couldn’t let Steve get away that easily.  
It didn’t take long for Natasha to walk into Bucky’s apartment. God, maybe it was time for him to change the locks.

“So, you stood up Steve and me?” Natasha asked, walking into Bucky’s bedroom.

He could tell that she had just come from the pilates class he had skipped based on her attire. She had a great sense of style, so there was no other reason she’d show up in leggings and a sports bra. Granted, it still looked cute and expensive.

Bucky buried his face in his pillow and groaned. “I’m not in the mood right now, Nat.”

Natasha pulled the pillow away from his face and sat on the edge of his bed. “Did something happen? What’s wrong? You’ve never stood me up before.”

“Hey, there’s a first time for everything,” Bucky said. “And besides, I just didn’t feel like going to workout on my day off. My muscles need a break. I’ll still get take out with you for dinner, though.”

“Are you sure this isn’t about Steve and not your muscles?” Nat asked.

“You wouldn’t get it,” Bucky stated.

“Hey, try me. Don’t forget about Dex. I know my relationship now is amazing, but I’ve had bad ones before, too.”

“This is the first time Steve has really talked to me since the first day he got here. And before that the last day he’d talked to me was the day I lost my arm. He doesn’t exactly bring back the most positive memories.”

“He should understand that. Steve’s a reasonable guy.”

“You don’t know him like I do. He’s not reasonable. He’s selfish.”

“Bucky, you don’t know him anymore. All that happened years ago. He isn’t the same person that you knew in high school. The army changed him. The company changed him. And he just grew up.”

“Well I’ve also grown up enough to realize that I don’t need to forgive him without an apology. If he’s changed so much, why hasn’t he apologized?”

“He was probably planning on doing that last night. But now that opportunity is gone.”

Bucky sighed and got out of bed. Steve probably was planning on apologizing last night. But in Bucky’s opinion, he should’ve apologized before trying to get together. He put on a sweatshirt and a pair of gym shorts, not caring about how he looked. God, his room really was boring. He needed a rug and some posters or something. Bucky sloppily made his bed and walked out to the kitchen to grab some breakfast.

Natasha trailed after him. “You can’t just ignore Steve forever, Bucky.”

Bucky grabbed out his Greek yogurt cup and started eating it, making sure not to make eye contact with Nat. “The thing is, I can. I can actually do whatever I want.” Bucky’s tone started getting louder and harsher, getting progressively angrier. “Nat, I love you, but this isn’t really your business. Steve changed my life for the worse and hasn’t apologized for it. So I can, and will, ignore Steve if I want to. He fucked things up.”

Nat sighed and sat on one of his barstools. “He’s trying, Bucky.”

“Well maybe he should try harder.”

Nat just sat and watched him as he ate his yogurt. There was tension in the air due to their differing opinions of Steve. Nat had already known who Steve was before he began with the company, as she and Bucky had been friends long before that. The Steve and Bucky drama didn’t prevent Natasha from becoming his friend, however. Part of Natasha’s plan to be at the top of the company was to make all the connections she could: leading her to hang out with everyone who worked for the company at least once. The immense charm that both Steve and Nat possessed led them to continue hanging out. They didn’t hang out as often as Nat and Bucky did, but it was still a relatively close relationship.

The friendship between Nat and Steve never bothered Bucky much. He understood what it was like to be captivated by Steve’s good looks and deceivingly generous personality. It was just hard for him to balance his best friend being friends with his worst enemy. Bucky did his best to not bash Steve too much around Natasha, but that was hard at the moment. He didn’t hate Steve, he was just pissed off that he was so prideful.

“So,” Bucky said, throwing his yogurt container in the trash. “I see that you commented on Elektra’s post this time.”

Natasha smiled and shook her head lightly. “I took your advice.”

“Just my advice, or did Matt encourage you to do it as well?” Bucky questioned.

“He may have had something to do with it. You know he’s not a fan of the way she treats me,” Nat answered.

Matt and Natasha had the cutest relationship, in Bucky’s opinion. They had met due to Matt being a season ticket holder. He was a known balletomane among the company. On her debuting night with the company, Matt met her after the show and they went from there. Of course, that was the same way he’d met Elektra and that didn’t end well. At least, it didn’t end well for her. Nat and Matt’s relationship had moved quite fast, with Natasha moving into his apartment only a month after meeting. It was a really sweet relationship.

“Matt is adorable,” Bucky said. “Well, adorable personality. I’d consider his looks hot.”

“Oh, he’s for sure hot. He’s really excited to see you in Swan Lake. I’m pretty sure Swan Lake is what introduced him to ballet, so it’s special to him,” Nat shared.

“I think Swan Lake is what introduced all of us to ballet. Specifically the Barbie movie. Although, personally, it’s not my favorite Tchaikovsky ballet, let alone my favorite ballet in general,” Bucky said.

Natasha nodded. “Fair. And I think the Barbie movie with the ballet sisters was just as good at introducing ballet as the Swan Lake one. Also there was the Nutcracker one. Oh, and the one based on the red shoes.”

Just like that, it was as if there had been no discussion of Steve between the two. The great thing about having a best friend was how nothing could come between them. Nat and Bucky often bickered, but it never became anything even remotely serious. It was almost like they were siblings. They often fought and didn’t always like each other, but they always loved each other.

Natasha ended up convincing Bucky that he’d start to feel better if he just went about his everyday life as normal. They made it to their yoga class and ended the night with take out. Bucky was thankful that she made him go to yoga: he’d feel terrible going a full day without any exercise. The normality of his Sunday was almost ironic considering what was awaiting him on Monday.

Monday morning Bucky woke up, showered, warmed up, stretched, and headed out to company class. After class, he had a lunch break, then a rehearsal until four. This was always his routine until it was time to perform. As per usual, Bucky went to his dressing room to change and cool down after rehearsal. What wasn’t usual was that there was someone waiting in his room when he got there; Steve.

“Um, excuse me,” Bucky said, walking into his room and setting his water bottle down on his vanity.

“You did a good job today,” Steve said. “The pas de deux is starting to look better.”

Bucky snorted. “Oh, wow, thanks. Your input is obviously very important and accurate on this topic.”

Steve blushed and quickly tried to cover his mistake. “Oh, I didn’t mean it like that. You know that.”

“I don’t think I know as much as you think I do,” Bucky said.

Steve didn’t even have a response for that one. Bucky loved being able to call him out and make him uncomfortable. Besides, Steve was being a dick for no reason. Bucky could do any pas de deux from Swan Lake in his sleep. He and Nat had great chemistry; there was no room for error. To really top off Steve's embarrassment, Bucky decided it would be a good idea to change into his street clothes with him in the room. Of course, he wouldn’t be fully nude, but Steve still wouldn’t like it.

As he took off his rehearsal clothes and put his street clothes on, Bucky made direct eye contact with Steve. Well, he did until Steve quickly blushed and looked away. Yeah, he’d definitely asserted his dominance.

“So, did you get sick Saturday night?” Steve asked, staring at his feet.

“Nope,” Bucky responded.

If Steve’s face could get anymore red, it would have at this point. “So then what happened?” Steve dug further, bringing his eyes up and looking at Bucky.

“Do you really need to ask?” Bucky inquired. “I thought you understood what happened.”

Bucky slipped on his tennis shoes and grabbed his duffle bag, pulling his keys out to leave ASAP with no further Steve interaction. He knew he was being a dick right now, but that’s all Steve would get until he apologized.

Bucky walked over to his dressing room door, pausing for a moment before heading home. Maybe he did need to clarify what happened on Saturday, to make it clear that Bucky was still pissed off.

“Yeah, I stood you up.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you so much for reading this far! In the next chapter, you'll get to see Steve come up with his action plan.


	4. Chapter 4 - Steve

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Steve tries to figure out a way to get Bucky to forgive him. Without having to actually apologize, of course.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you so much for the continued support! I will continue to update every week if possible, but school is starting this week. I will do my best to keep up with the story, as I'm very excited for all of you to see where it goes. Enjoy!

Bucky Barnes was one of the best people Steve had ever met. He was always kind, caring, sweet, funny, generous, and just overall amazing. That’s how Steve knew he had fucked up. It wasn’t like Bucky to be bitter or rude. Steve didn’t even realize he had the capacity for that. He had genuinely believed that the reason Bucky didn’t show up on Saturday was that he was either sick or some family issue had come up. He didn’t think Bucky would be the type to actually stand him up.

“Yeah, I stood you up,” Bucky said as he walked out of his dressing room.

The fact that Bucky would admit that he purposely stood Steve up was a major red flag that he had done something wrong. Sam was right all along. He had to apologize. He did go into Bucky’s dressing room with the intention of apologizing, that just wasn’t what happened. When he saw Bucky come in, he suddenly got super nervous. And it wasn’t like Bucky was acting friendly towards him, either. The blame couldn’t all be put on Steve. The situation was overall a whole lot worse than Steve had expected.

He knew it was wrong, but Steve decided to snoop around Bucky’s dressing room. There could be something there that would give him some details into Bucky’s current life. Other than a cabinet with some snacks and athletic tape and a vanity with makeup and hair supplies, the room was pretty much empty. Compared to how Steve remembered Bucky’s rooms during their school years, this was insanely bland. Bucky had always been the one with the funky colored things and random thrifted pieces. Even Steve’s boring bedroom was more unique than this.

The only thing in the dressing room that wasn’t incredibly boring was the wall of photos. More than half of the photos featured Nat, with a lot of them even being her alone. Not to mention how many were of Nat and Matt. Man, Steve was really jealous of their relationship. Seeing the pictures of Bucky on the wall made Steve smile: he looked like the Bucky he used to know. Just looking at those photos, he could tell how guarded Bucky became around Steve. It never used to be that way.

As Steve walked along the wall to see the rest of the photos, he noticed there was something on the floor. It was a flipped over photo. Steve picked up the photo and turned it over to look at it. That was the moment his heart stopped. Steve was in the photo. With Bucky, of course. It was taken when they were in middle school at Bucky’s first Nutcracker performance. Steve remembered that day and how happy Bucky was when Steve showed up with a bouquet, and how surprised he was. He never expected to see that photo here, now. The fact that it was ever in Bucky’s dressing room felt like a win, even if it was discarded onto the floor. That’s what Steve needed to do: recreate that feeling for Bucky.

Steve didn’t listen to music on his way home from the company like he usually would. He felt like it would distract him from thinking clearly. He had to come up with a way to apologize to Bucky, and it couldn’t be lame.

Sam was sitting on the couch and watching tv when Steve came home, which was exactly what he was hoping for.

Steve plopped down on the couch beside Sam. “Hey, man. How was your day?”

“Fine. A lotta work. Yours?” Sam responded.

Steve hesitated a moment before saying, “It was okay. Rehearsal was good. But then I saw Bucky after and that didn’t go too well. It’s pretty obvious that he hates me still.”

“I mean, he’s got reason. At least you’ve tried now,” Sam said.

“I’ve tried but I think I need to actually apologize. If I don’t apologize, I don’t think he’ll give me a chance at all.”

“I don’t want to say I told you so, but I did.”

“The problem is that he’s not gonna listen to me long enough to let me apologize. I honestly don’t know what to do at this point. Maybe I should just text him an apology, then he can’t ignore it.”

“This situation is a little more serious than just a texted apology, Steve. Just go to his place or talk to him at rehearsal again. If you just give up like this, you’ll be proving his point.”

So, Steve had no idea where to go from here. Text was too informal and made it seem like he wasn’t even sorry. But Bucky wouldn’t give him the time of day to actually apologize. He’d have to somehow con Bucky into allowing him to apologize. Maybe with the help of Natasha? He just wanted the relationship to return to the way it once was. Steve missed his childhood best friend.

“It just sucks, you know?” Steve said. “I used to be his favorite person. I used to make him happy. Now I just make him upset.”

“Just don’t give up, Steve. Just keep trying and it’ll work,” Sam said.

“I’ve been trying and nothing has worked,” Steve sighed. “I’m just gonna have to go over there or somehow, like, trap him. Obviously not trap him in a scary way, but in a way that he has to confront our issues.”

Sam rolled his eyes. “Or just go up to him and apologize, then start moving on. If he doesn’t accept it, there’s nothing you can do about it.”  
“Oh, I’ll make sure he will accept it.”

Steve spent all night trying to plan a way to get Bucky to forgive him. He had to prove that he was still the same person Bucky fell in love with so many years ago. While the idea of asking Nat for help seemed like it would make his life a lot easier, Steve knew it would be the wrong decision. This had to be something that he did on his own, otherwise it would be much less meaningful. Well, maybe it would be good to use Nat to confirm his plan with, just to make sure Bucky wouldn’t have him for it.

The current plan involved Bucky’s dressing room. Steve had noticed how bland it was, and he also knew how uniquely Bucky used to decorate his bedroom. A quick trip to a few local vintage stores could provide Steve with exactly what he needed to make it seem like a place Bucky would want to be. He could even include plants, snacks, and pictures from their childhood. He knew reminding Bucky of the good times they used to have would make him more willing to forgive Steve. Because this all could be interpreted as a massive invasion of privacy, Steve knew he had to consult Natasha first.

Natasha and Matt lived in an apartment complex a few blocks away from Bucky’s, and a hell of a lot nicer than his. Matt was really making his way up in his legal career, so they could afford something a little bougier. Not to mention the fact that Natasha was a company favorite. Their apartment was on the sixth floor, but they actually had an elevator, so it wasn’t long before Steve arrived at their door.

“Hey,” Matt said, smiling at Steve, opening the door quickly after the first knock. He was still wearing his button down and pants, so Steve could see he’d just gotten off of work. Shit, he was probably imposing on Matt and Nat’s alone time.

“Sorry if this is a bad time. I can go, it isn’t that important,” Steve stated.

“Nah, it’s alright. Come on in,” Matt said, moving from the door so Steve could step in.

God, even the inside of their apartment was bougie. Much like Steve’s own bedroom, everything looked very nice and clean. Unlike Steve’s room, however, the apartment was mainly grey instead of white. And not just grey, varying shades of grey. They had a light grey couch covered in dark gray pillows. Both the rug and dining room chairs were also dark gray. Most of the decorations around were light gray, but those were mainly just candles and books. It looked like a house on the market that was staged for a showing. Despite this, it still had a homey feel. Steve walked past the grey couch and into the kitchen, where he knew he could find Natasha.

Nat was cutting up a lime to add to her and Matt’s drinks when Steve walked in. Yes, she was doing so on her dark grey countertops.

“Hi, Steve. I wasn’t expecting to see you tonight,” Nat said, never looking up from her drinks.

Steve blushed. It really felt like he was intruding on their lives. “Yeah, I needed some advice on something,” he said, sitting down on one of their chairs.

“Let me guess, on Bucky?” Natasha asked. “He told me about what happened today already. It was a really nice touch to insult our past performances, may I say. That really undid half of the work you’ve already done.”

Nat handed Steve one of the drinks she had made before turning to make a third one. The mix of her being a good hostess and him being a bad guest really elevated the situation. It was very likely that Nat was made at him for what happened with Bucky, as they were best friends. This was really not Steve’s best decision.

“I really wasn’t trying to insult you guys,” Steve explained. “It was a compliment that came out wrong. I was trying to apologize and I thought complimenting him was a good place to start. I just meant that there was visible improvement. You guys are super good.”

Nat nodded and sipped on her drink. “Thank you. We’ve been working hard. So, now you want to know how to fix all this?”

“No, I have a plan. I just need you to tell me if it’s good,” Steve answered.

“Shoot,” Nat said.

“Well, I want to do something to wow him; make him feel special,” Steve started. “When I went into his dressing room today, I noticed how boring it was. During all the time I’ve known him, he’s never had a living space like that. He loves having all these bright colors and funky pieces and just making his spaces really unique. Soooo, I was thinking that I could make his dressing room like that.”

Natasha thought for a moment before speaking, chewing on a lime wedge. “Well, it would be cute. And if he sees it and is mad, we can just say I did it. He’ll either love it or hate it, but it’s worth the shot. Just make sure that it’s still a really comfortable space, you know? That’s where he goes to relax after long rehearsal hours. And keep lots of floor space, he tends to stretch before class or cool down after class in there.”

Steve smiled at her. “You are the best ever. We’re totally gonna get him to forgive me.”

Natasha snorted. “We? Nah, I’m not that involved. Wanna stay for dinner? Or is Sam cooking something good?”

Matt walked into the kitchen, wrapping his arms around Nat from behind. “Sam’s always making something good for dinner,” he said.

That was the type of relationship Steve wanted. He’d never really been in a serious relationship since, well, high school, and that didn’t really count. Matt and Natasha just had this effortless relationship. They clicked so well and just always seemed so in love. They supported each other through anything. Not to mention the fact that, physically, they looked perfect for each other.

Matt said, “You should stay for dinner, I was going to pick up something good. I think we all deserve it after all this drama.”

Steve laughed a little. “All this drama? This drama has been going on forever and it’s called Bucky. He brings drama with him wherever he goes.”

“No offense, Steve, but Bucky didn’t have any drama until you came back,” Natasha said.

It seemed like all the drama in Bucky’s life revolved around Steve, but not all the drama in Steve’s life revolved around Bucky. While he was in the army, Steve still had a lot of drama while Bucky was doing better than ever. Something clicked in Steve’s mind that he was the “bad guy” in their relationship. It suddenly became more important than ever to fix their relationship.

That night, Steve stayed up for hours on their grey couch. Matt had so many interesting stories from his college days, Natasha had so many interesting stories from her Vaganova days, and Steve had so many interesting stories from his army days. They were all easy people to have conversation with, so they were unstoppable together. Despite staying up all night talking, Steve still got up early in the morning to search for things for Bucky’s dressing room.

Molly Hayes was the youngest player in the pit, but also the sweetest and bubbliest. Due to her young age, she lived with a bunch of young company members. This included Natasha and Elektra’s direct competition, Karolina Dean, as well as stage manager Gert Yorkes. The house was extremely chaotic, so Bucky had no issue bringing Molly to do things frequently.

Because Molly had such a unique style, she was the perfect person to pick things out for Bucky. The first stop of the day was to one of the local vintage stores.

“Wow, Steve, come look at this!” Molly yelled, running over to a rug as soon as they entered the store. The rug was rhombuses that were each varying colors of magenta, and appeared to be handmade. This was exactly why Steve had decided to bring Molly.

“I think that’ll be perfect for the room, Molly. Good eye,” Steve complimented. He added the rug to his mental shopping cart and continued to look around the store.

“So, you think Bucky would like all the things I like?” Molly asked, poking around a pile of vases.

Steve smiled. “Oh, he’d love all of it. He loves things that are bright and fun. You should totally hang out with him sometime. I’m sure his apartment looks very similar to your room. He’s very into the eclectic style.”

Molly moved on to look at the furniture pieces. “Well, in that case, I think he’d love this chair. I sure know I do.”

The chair in question was a mustard yellow, velvet armchair with a tufted back. It would compliment the magenta rug very well. And Steve was sure he could find a nice little end table to put next to it.

“You’re really hitting the jackpot today, Molly. This’ll go perfect in the room. Let’s go buy it,” Steve said.

They only went to one more store before Molly wanted to take a smoothie break. Also they had found pretty much everything Steve had been looking for. They had the armchair, the rug, an end table, an old clock, two paintings, and a few potted plants. The room was going to come out just as Steve had envisioned.

“Was Steve your boyfriend?” Molly asked, sipping on her smoothie as Steve drove her back to her house.

Steve’s face flushed. “Uhhh, I wouldn’t say that. He was my best friend, though.”

“Well, I think he wants to date you. He looks at you in that way someone does when they love you. He at least thinks you’re pretty, I think,” Molly said.

“We’ll see how he reacts after my apology and the surprise of his room,” Steve stated. “I’m hoping that he’s going to be willing to let me back into his life.”

“If he’s not, you can give me all the stuff we just bought. It would look soooo awesome in my bedroom,” Molly said.

Steve smiled. God, Molly was so sweet and adorable. She reminded him a lot of the Bucky he knew in high school. He wondered if he had changed or if he was just guarded from Steve.

Molly snuck into the company with Steve the next night and helped him set up Bucky’s dressing room. They only really decorated one corner, wanting to leave a lot of open floor space for him. They put the rug down with the chair and end table on top of it. One plant and a potted plant found their home on top of the end table. They added another plant to his vanity, as well as a bunch of protein bars and fruit leathers. Steve added a few pictures of them as kids onto the wall, hoping Bucky would notice. After hanging up the paintings, they were done.

Now all that was left was for Bucky to see it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope you enjoyed seeing more of Steve's perspective! Get ready for the next chapter, where Bucky gets fed up and decides he needs to confront Steve if he ever wants this all to end. Thank you so much for reading!


	5. Chapter 5 - Bucky

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Bucky decides to confront Steve, but he isn't quite ready to hear what he has to say.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you everyone for the support! With school starting, it is a little harder to keep up with the writing. However, I will be having a little more free time these next few weeks, so I'm hoping for no more late chapters. I hope you enjoy!

Steve Rogers knew how to get under Bucky’s skin. It probably came from the fact that he knew him so well. He always knew exactly what to say to set him off. This was especially true in high school, right before the incident. He knew talking about his school friends was triggering to him and would make him upset. That’s why he always brought it up. He loved having the power to control Bucky and his emotions. Now, Steve got under his skin by always trying to push himself onto Bucky. And that’s exactly what he did with his dressing room.

Bucky came into his dressing room at an ungodly hour just to find out that it had essentially been broken into and vandalized. Sure, it did look nice. But that wasn’t really an excuse. There were snacks on his vanity along with a plant, and a nice little set up in the corner with an armchair and a rug. The rug was especially cool, with a bunch of magenta shapes covering it. It was definitely Bucky’s style, so he loved it. At first glance, Bucky assumed Nat had done it. She had been saying that she was planning on redoing his apartment for a very long time, so this could be a first step

Wanting to explore the newly decorated room, Bucky walked over to the arm chair and sat down in it. It was, surprisingly, not musty and relatively comfortable. He was really hoping the plants were fake so he didn’t have to remember to water them. From his new chair, he took a gaze around the room to soak in the new view. Something stuck out to him that hadn’t before: the picture wall.

Bucky walked over to the wall and tried to figure out what was different. Natasha had put the picture of him and Steve back up on the wall. Considering it was laying on the floor prior, he wasn’t mad that she’d do that. Then he noticed that that wasn’t the only thing different on the wall. There were at least ten new photos featuring Steve. Nat must not have been the one to decorate the room: Steve had done it.

The Act II coda was being rehearsed, which was basically just all the girls in the show. Bucky wasn’t needed on stage for the scene. In fact, he was supposed to still be stretching in his dressing room and warming up for his rehearsal. Yet somehow he ended up on the stage.

“Why would you break into my room?” Bucky demanded, storming onto the stage. 

The dancers and orchestra both stopped immediately. All the swan girls quickly moved to the edge of the stage, wanting to stay out of whatever was about to happen. They’d never seen someone walk across the stage and pick a fight in the middle of a rehearsal. None of them would’ve guessed the first person to do it would be Bucky. He was super sweet to everyone in the company. Well, excluding Steve.

Natasha walked over to him. “Hey, I redid your dressing room last night. I’m sorry, I thought you’d like it. I thought it could be like a cool little gift for getting the part and everything.”

Bucky rolled his eyes at her. “Come on, I know he did it. Why would you hang tons of pictures of him on my wall?”

Steve walked out of the pit and onto the stage. Public confrontation was not his favorite. That’s probably why he just stood back and let Bucky lose his arm. “Hey, let’s go back to your dressing room and talk about this. Not everyone needs to hear about our personal drama.”

“Drama?” Bucky scoffed. “Steve, you made me lose my arm. And never apologized. I think this is more than just personal drama.”

Everyone was still standing on the stage, watching everything go down. There was a lot of tension in the air, but Bucky knew a lot of them were entertained by it. He could see Elektra watching from the wings, smiling in enjoyment. Honestly, Bucky wasn’t bothered. He wanted everyone to know how much of a dick Steve had been to him.

Elektra laughed from the wings. “Damn, Steve, way to go with that one.”

Bucky looked down in the pit and saw the confusion on everyone’s faces. Steve was a favorite among them. He saw how crushed Molly, who idolized Steve, looked. For a second, Bucky felt bad for letting out part of the story. But then he remembered what Steve had done and how he’d reacted to it.

It was unfair that Steve could ruin his life and just get away with it. Everyone in the company loved Steve, he was a charming guy. But Bucky knew his true colors, what he had really done. Everyone needed to know the truth about his arm. And now they did. Or, at least, they knew part of the story.

“Okay, we can continue this in private,” Steve said, grabbing Bucky’s arm and leading him back to his dressing room.

Bucky didn’t protest. He knew that causing a larger scene would not be good for his job stability. He didn’t want to risk the best role he’d ever gotten. Everyone had already heard what he’d wanted them to. 

Bucky sat down in his new armchair and Steve nervously paced around the room. It was hard for Bucky to be mad any longer, he could tell that Steve had had good intentions. It was still a huge invasion of privacy, though, considering they weren’t friends.

“Listen, Buck…” Steve started, his voice trailing off.

Bucky looked up at him. “Hmm?” 

Steve looked down at the floor. “I’m sorry, Buck. For everything. For high school, for not apologizing for high school, for breaking into your dressing room, for being angry at you.”

“And I’m sorry for standing you up.”

“Could we maybe try again? We could go get dinner tonight. Or you could come to my place. Or I could go to your’s. I just wanna talk about everything, and we are supposed to be rehearsing at the moment so now isn’t the best time. I’ve missed years of your life.”

For once, Bucky felt bad for Steve. It seemed like he was genuinely sorry and missed having Bucky in his life. He wanted to catch up, and, honestly, so did Bucky. They could hang out that night and just discuss everything. It couldn’t be that painful.

“And I’ve missed years of yours. Yeah, you can come to my place tonight.”

Steve smiled and finally looked up at him. “Awesome, I’ll be there.”

As always, Bucky didn’t have to clean up his apartment for Steve because it was almost completely empty. Seeing his new dressing room had actually inspired him to start decorating his apartment. Somehow Steve still knew exactly what he liked. Maybe he could make him decorate his apartment as well. It would also get them to spend more time together and work out all their issues.

Bucky waited nervously on his couch for Steve to arrive. Now that he’d actually apologized, they could move forward. Of course, Bucky would never really get over what had happened. Even though he accepted the apology, it would always be in the back of his mind. Considering he’d lost his arm, he thought that was valid.

After ten minutes of bouncing his knee on the couch, a knock arrived at Bucky’s door. It was Steve, of course. Bucky opened the door and smiled at him. “Come on in.”

Steve walked into the apartment and took a long look around. Bucky flushed, he could tell he was judging it. Compared to how his house had looked all throughout their childhood, this was extremely bland. He was embarrassed Steve had to see it. But it wasn’t like he wanted such a boring apartment, he just didn’t have any time outside of company classes and rehearsals. Steve had to understand that.

“This is a nice place,” Steve said. Bucky could tell he was lying through his teeth.

“Thanks, you can sit on the couch if you want,” Bucky offered. 

Steve awkwardly sat on the couch, refusing to make eye contact as usual. Bucky sat next to him, staying as close to the edge of the couch as possible. He didn’t want to overstep any bounds. Though god knows they’d been much closer than this before. It was obvious that Steve was nervous, likely that Bucky would yell at him as he’d recently done. Part of Bucky wanted to, but he couldn’t bring himself to. Not after he’d apologized. Not after seeing him in his own apartment.

“Can I be honest about something?” Bucky asked.

He could feel Steve’s body become even more tense, which he didn’t realize was physically possible. “Uh, yeah, sure,” Steve responded.

“I really like what you did to my dressing room. It looks and feels a lot more like it’s mine now. I wish I could say the same about my apartment, but I’ve just been too busy with the company to do anything to it, especially now that I’ve got a lead” Bucky said.

Now he could see Steve to relax. And he even smiled at him. “I’m glad you like it, that’s what I was trying to do,” Steve said. “I made Molly help me: I figured she’d be able to style it to your tastes better than I could.”

“Well maybe I need to make her come redo this place, it looks like ass,” Bucky commented. 

Steve laughed a little. “It’s just bare, you’ll get it looking like you in no time.”

Looking like him. Did Steve know what that would look like? Apparently he did, seeing as his dressing room makeover was executed perfectly. Bucky was a little embarrassed that he was still the same person Steve used to know. It felt like Bucky didn’t know the person Steve had become. Yet, talking to him still felt natural. 

“Do you remember that giant lava lamp we found at Savers sophomore year?” Steve questioned.

“Yeah, that’s still at my parent’s house in my bedroom there,” Bucky said through a smile. “Maybe I should just bring all my high school decor over here so it doesn’t look like a shithole anymore. I need something cute.”

Steve looked around again, presumably making a judgement on how “cute” his place currently was. “It’s not that bad, honestly. But I could help you move some stuff over here if you want. I haven’t been home in a while, but I do like going back. Plus Sam has an SUV so we would be able to bring a lot of stuff.” 

This was the nicest Steve had been to Bucky since the incident. He was actually offering to go out of his way just to do something nice for him. Well, maybe it would benefit Steve. It would certainly make Bucky like him more. Although Steve wanting Bucky to not hate him wasn’t really being manipulative. It’s what Bucky wanted, too.

“That would be great,” Bucky enthused. “We could go after rehearsal tomorrow if you want.”

Steve hesitated. “That might be cutting times a little close.”

“I mean, we can just stay the night with our parents and come back early in the morning if we really need to,” Bucky suggested.

“You know what, let’s do it. My parents would be really happy to see you again. They ask about you a lot still,” Steve said.

Bucky flushed. Their parents didn’t know about everything that happened. Bucky had never even told his parents the real story behind him losing his arm. And of course Steve wouldn’t, because he was in the wrong. But Bucky’s parents at least knew that they were no longer friends, even though they worked together. Bucky had no idea what Steve had told his parents. 

“And what do you tell them?” Bucky asked.

Now Steve was the one blushing. “Well, I tell them that you’re good and about what roles you have. Also that we talk a lot and still hang out and stuff.”

“Wait, what? Steve, that’s just straight up lying. They’re gonna think we’re best friends when we see them tomorrow. When my parents talk about you, I just change the topic. God, your parents probably told my parents everything you told them. Which is not good because I’m pretty sure my parents know more about everything than yours do.”

“I’m sorry, Buck. I just didn’t want to make them upset about everything. And now we’re friends again, so it’ll be fine. They don’t need to know all the drama that happened.”

“Are we friends again?”  
“I thought so.”

“I don’t know that that’s the label I would use to describe this relationship.”

“Oh.”

“Maybe friendly would be better.”

“I can live with that. I’ll work my way up.”

It would take Steve a long time to work up to where he once was. In fact, it had taken him a long time to get there even back in high school. There was a lot of flirting going on before they ever went on a date. But that was a long time ago, there would be no dating now. Even though Steve still looked just as good as he did back then. And he was proving to be just as sweet.

“Bucky, I’m really, really, really sorry for high school,” Steve apologized. “I just… didn’t know what to do. I couldn’t step in, you know? Because then it would’ve been bad for me as well as you. It wouldn’t have helped. I honestly did try my best. I know it wasn’t good enough.”

“I just wish you weren’t ashamed of me in the first place,” Bucky reflected. 

“Buck, you know that isn’t what happened. I was never ashamed of you. It was about me, not you,” Steve stated.

“As always,” Bucky observed. 

“Okay, it’s starting to feel like you don’t want to forgive me,” Steve said, raising his voice a little. “If you don’t, that’s fine. But just don’t lead me on like this. I can leave if you don’t want to be around me. But I do want to be around you. You’ve always been my best friend: I still love you.”

Bucky blushed. “I feel the same way. I’m sorry, it’s just still a sore subject for me. You don’t even know how terrible all that was for me. I know it wasn’t easy for you either, but I did lose my arm.”

“I’m just… I’m just doing my best, Buck. I’m a different person now than I was then. That situation would never happen in the first place to the person that I am today. You know I would stand up for you.”

“I don’t know yet, but I have a feeling you’re gonna try really hard to prove it to me. So, you’re out now?”

“Uh, kinda.”

“Kinda?”

“I mean, if someone were to ask, I’d tell them. I just don’t really tell people. I haven’t been in a serious relationship since, well, you know.”

Bucky hadn’t been in a serious relationship since Steve, either. He’d had quite a few boyfriends, but they’d only lasted four months max. And none of them lived up to his prior relationship. Something about the whole “best friends to lovers” progression created a relationship impossible to replicate in any other way. He wouldn’t admit any of that to Steve, though. He had way too much pride for that.

“Well, I guess I can’t ask more of you than not purposely hiding it. We’ve seen how much that accomplishes. You live with Sam now?” Bucky asked.

Steve answered, “Yeah, it’s nice because he can actually cook. He’s still the great guy he was in high school. You should come over for dinner sometime, I know Sam would love to see you again.”

“I’d like that,” Bucky said. 

“So, back home tomorrow?”

“Yeah, as long as you’re the one driving. You know how much I hate driving down there, none of those people know how to drive.”

“Look at the driving instructor and tell me it doesn’t make sense”

Bucky laughed. It felt like the good old days again. Steve wasn’t being an asshole, and Bucky wasn’t holding a grudge. “She’s practically a hundred years old, I feel like we can’t blame her. God, if we see one person from high school down there I’m going to kill myself. If someone asks about my career and then proceeds to ridicule it one more time I will lose it.”

“Hey, I completely understand that. My grandma still asks when I’m going to go back to college and get my accounting degree.”

“Ah, you can’t help but love her, though. No one respects the art careers.”

“Yet everyone utilizes them every day.”

God, Steve’s smile was so beautiful. So was his nose. And his bright blue eyes. And his hands. And his torso. And his arms. And his strong legs. And his soft, full lips.

It took more willpower than Bucky knew he had to resist kissing him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry that this chapter wasn't the most riveting, but it seemed important for Bucky and Steve to begin getting over their issues. In the next chapter, Steve and Bucky will go on a little road trip back to their hometown: where their friendship started. And ended.


	6. Chapter 6 - Steve

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Steve drives Bucky back to their hometown and begins to come to terms with his true feelings.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi everyone! Thank you for sticking around this long! Updates should continue to be Sunday afternoons for at least the next month, so don't forget to check back Sunday nights or Mondays for the latest chapters. Thank you so much for reading!

Bucky Barnes had a certain charm that Steve just couldn’t resist. In high school, Steve had a car and Bucky didn’t. Bucky always wanted something for lunch that he didn't have, be it some Chinese food or just a sparkling water. If he asked, Steve delivered. That’s what happened with Bucky’s apartment. It was obvious that Bucky was unhappy with his apartment, so the least Steve could do was bring him back to their hometown to recreate his old room. Any opportunity he had to spend time with Bucky, he would take advantage of.

Steve drove Sam’s huge, old SUV to rehearsal, as he and Bucky would go back to their hometown as soon as rehearsals were over. It felt weird to pull up in such a big car, but he parked it next to Molly and her crew’s big van. He hadn’t really had a chance to talk to Molly since Bucky told everyone about their high school experience. He had seen the way she looked at him after that, so he wanted to explain. She looked so hurt by the thought that Steve might not be a great guy. However, it wasn’t really like he had done something as terrible as Bucky made it seem. 

Most of the pit players were just beginning to assemble their instruments when Steve walked in, so he walked over to Molly and sat next to her.

“Hi,” she said, not looking up from her valves that she was oiling. 

“I didn’t really get a chance to talk to you after rehearsal yesterday,” Steve said. “You must’ve been in a hurry to get out of here.”

“Yeah, I had practice for my soccer rec league,” she answered.

Molly was incredibly busy, yet she always had so much energy. She played tuba in the pit full time, played for a recreational soccer team, hung out with her friends constantly, and still never acted tired. She was amazing

“Listen, about what Bucky said yesterday…” Steve started.

Molly just hummed in response. It seemed like she was more interested in polishing her tuba than talking to Steve. Yeah, she’d definitely taken what Bucky said to heart.

Steve continued, “That isn’t really the full story, Molly. I wasn’t really responsible for him losing his arm, but my friends were. And he’s always blamed me for not interfering. But I couldn’t really do that, given the situation. And after that he never wanted to talk to me again, so I never had the chance to apologize. Obviously I’ve now apologized.”

“I want to know the full story before I can decide what I believe. Tell me everything that happened,” Molly requested.

Steve hesitated. “I just don’t think right now is the best time for that. Way too much has happened. Our relationship started when we were very young. And I don’t intend on it ending until I die.”

Rehearsal with just the pit went relatively fast. Everyone was extremely talented, so the only thing they really had to practice was just making sure everyone was on the same page. Rehearsal with the company, however, went a little different. Today they were rehearsing mainly just the pas de deux. It was a pivotal scene, so it required a lot of work. Even though Natasha and Bucky were amazing, this was a moment that had to be exactly perfect. Today it wasn’t lining up.

All Bucky really had to do in the act II pas de deux was hold onto Nat. Yet, for some reason, he was having a hard time keeping her up on her penches. Steve was pretty sure even he would be capable of that. Natasha didn’t really need Bucky’s help with most of her steps, so he was the only person he was throwing off. To Steve, it looked like he was stuck in his own head. 

The only time Bucky really ever messed up was when he was psyching himself out. In high school, a bunch of boys thought it would be really funny to go see his production of The Nutcracker. Steve went with them. He was really there to support Bucky, but neither the boys he was with nor Bucky knew that. Ironically, it was a pas de deux where Bucky screwed up there, too. The Sugar Plum pas de deux. Steve still couldn’t hear the music without being reminded of how terrible that day was. No one got injured, of course, but it definitely damaged Bucky’s ego. Steve had had to give him a lot of reassurance after that performance. He just couldn’t figure out what was on his mind today.

“Hey, that was interesting,” Steve commented, walking into Bucky’s dressing room where both Bucky and Natasha were rolling out their legs on the floor.

Bucky rolled his eyes at him. “I thought we’d established that it isn’t your place to comment on my dancing.”

“That didn’t really seem like a dancing issue, that seemed like a you issue. What were you thinking?” Steve asked.

“Oh my god, Steve. It isn’t that big of a deal, I just got tripped up. It happens to everyone,” Bucky responded.

“Well it certainly never happens to your Vaganova trained partner,” Steve remarked.

Natasha scoffed from her straddle on the rug. “You should see me at recreational classes, Stevie. I promise I’m not as perfect as I look.”

“Doing classes flat instead of en pointe does not count as being not perfect. You have flawless technique and perfect lines, Nat. Not to mention your emotional execution,” Bucky gushed. 

“That’s why I love Vaganova,” Nat stated. “They gave me great technique as well as the emotional trauma to be able to emote from stage.”

“And I got all the emotional trauma needed from Steve,” Bucky added.

Steve blushed. “I promise I didn’t try.”

Bucky laughed, glancing up at Steve with a gorgeous smile. “I know, I just like giving you shit. You’re fun to mess with.”

Something about the sound of Bucky’s laugh gave Steve an immense amount of joy. It brought him back to the days when they would stay up all night, aimlessly driving around the suburbs with their soft drinks from KwikTrip. Back then, they were inseparable and laughed at everything the other said. Steve was doing his best to bring them back to that stage.

“You know what, fuck you Buck,” Steve teased. “Now, are you almost ready? I wanna get going so we can get home at a reasonable hour. Also we need enough time so that we can stop at the KwikTrip we used to terrorize.”

Natasha stood up from her position on the floor and put their foam rollers back with Bucky’s other items. She then lent a hand to Bucky, helping him off the floor. 

“I’ll see you guys later, have a good adventure,” Natasha said, walking out the door and into her own dressing room.

Bucky started gathering his bag that he brought to rehearsal everyday. Somehow he had managed to use every item and leave them all skewed around his room. Making a complete mess wasn’t too out of character for Bucky. It made Steve smile, seeing him get flustered while trying to find everything he needed. Everything was finally starting to feel domestic and normal.

“Okay, I’ve got it all ready to go,” Bucky said, slinging his bag over his shoulder. 

“Off to the SUV,” Steve announced.

They walked out to Sam’s SUV in a comfortable silence. Bucky threw his stuff into the trunk and hopped into the car. Steve got in and handed Bucky his phone.

“Here, it’s hooked up to the bluetooth,” Steve said. “I’ve got Spotify Premium, you can play whatever you want.”

Bucky took his phone and started scrolling and clicking. Steve was a little worried that he was snooping around. Shit, he did have Grindr still. He didn’t even ever use it anymore, but he wasn’t about to explain that to Bucky. Besides, why would Bucky care if he was hooking up with people. Steve was the one who wanted to go back to their old relationship, not Bucky.

The song Bucky chose to play felt oddly familiar. Steve glanced at the radio. It was the playlist Bucky had created for them the summer before junior year. Driving on the roads leading to their hometown and listening to the playlist brought Steve back to a better time. That summer marked the peak of their relationship. It was really when they started messing around and being completely honest with each other. Steve remembered the laughs as well as the tears. Highschool definitely had some highs, it wasn’t all lows.

“Well this is a little vintage by now,” Steve observed, tapping his fingers to the rhythm against the steering wheel. 

“I thought you might like it. I still like these songs,” Bucky said.

Steve smiled at him. “I like it a lot, Buck. It brings me back to the good old days. I haven’t heard this stuff in such a long time. You know, this playlist means we’re for sure gonna have to go to KwikTrip so we can really relive this time. Definitely gonna have to get some huge ass fountain sodas.”

“I try not to drink soda because of work, but I might be able to make an exception this time,” Bucky said, smiling.

“You’re so much better than me,” Steve commented. “I try to be good about all that, but it doesn’t work that well. At least Sam cooks dinners, otherwise I’d probably survive off PostMates alone.”

“Hey, I still survive mainly off of Chinese takeout,” Bucky protested.

“But you look good regardless,” Steve complimented.

As soon as he said it, he regretted it. He knew that it could be taken in such a wrong way. But maybe that wouldn’t be so bad. Steve did think he looked good in the sense that he was attracted to him. There was no way Bucky felt the same way. It was obvious that he barely wanted to be around him in the first place.

Steve blushed profusely. “Hey, I’m really sorry. I just mean that you have a good body.” Fuck, that was even worse. “I mean, like, I can tell you workout. Like, you have a really nice ballet look.”

Bucky laughed at his slip ups. “Steve, I understand what you were trying to say. It’s fine. And I also wouldn’t be mad about you telling me I look hot, so it’s really okay.”

“In that case, you do look hot,” Steve stated.

“Well you don’t look terrible either,” Bucky said, smiling at him.

“Speaking of looking hot, are you seeing anyone right now?” Steve asked.

“Please tell me you’re not trying to date me right now,” Bucky pleaded.

“I’m not, I’m just curious to know more about your social life.”

“I am not seeing anyone right now.”

“Well neither am I.”

“I’m not surprised by that. You got a Grindr notification when I was setting up the music.”

Steve blushed profusely. “I’m sorry about that. I should’ve deleted that a long time ago.”

“I’m glad I don’t use it. Otherwise we probably would’ve matched,” Bucky stated.

So Bucky would’ve swiped right on him? You can’t match with someone you don’t want to. Maybe this was going to develop into more than just a friendship. Maybe Steve wasn’t the only one who hoped it would. 

Steve cleared his throat, wanting to change the subject before anything even more embarrassing came up. “So, KwikTrip dinner? You getting hungry yet?”  
“Oh, I’m always hungry after rehearsal,” Bucky stated. 

“Well we’re about to get to one right up here. I might need to stock up on food, I never get to go to KwikTrip anymore” Steve said.

“There isn’t really one in a convenient spot. Besides, I mainly just walk or order in for everything,” Bucky added.

“Maybe I need to move close to one,” Steve suggested.

“Wait, you’re planning on moving?” Bucky asked, turning to face Steve. 

Steve blushed. “I mean, eventually I will. I can’t imagine I’ll stay at this job forever.”

Bucky didn’t even respond to that. Maybe he didn’t want Steve to leave. But it wasn’t like he was planning to leave soon or anything. He just wanted to leave his future open for any possibilities. Ideally he would get offered a job somewhere more prestigious and with a higher pay. 

They listened to music in silence for a little while until they reached KwikTrip. It was the same one they frequented in high school, being that it was only half an hour from their hometown. There was one closer, but they preferred going further away. There was less of a chance that they would see someone they knew the further from home they got. 

The inside of the building looked the same as it did when they were in high school. Bucky went straight towards the pastries while Steve went straight towards the drinks and the chips. Assuming they had the same taste buds as they used to, splitting up to cover the entire store faster wouldn’t be a bad strategy. 

Steve knew that Bucky was trying to drink less soda for his job, so he picked up a few sparkling waters for him. Various flavors because he didn’t know what his current favorite was, of course. For himself, he filled up a Big Buddy with cherry Pepsi and five squirts of vanilla syrup. It was much better than an actual cherry vanilla Pepsi. Then he moved on to the salty snacks. This one was easy: Steve and Bucky were both obsessed with seasoned pretzels. Dot’s were good, but Old Dutch was even better.

Across the store, Bucky had secured a large amount of baked goods. Of course, pumpkin bars with cream cheese frosting was a favorite for both of them. A pistachio muffin, brownie cookies, and a Bavarian pretzel for Bucky. Lemon cookies, an apple fritter, and a walnut brownie for Steve. Of course, two boxes of glazers donuts; one for each of their parents. With their divide and conquer, they were in and out of the store in under ten minutes. 

“Okay, I’m saving all the snacks other than my pretzel for the ride home,” Bucky announced. “This is no longer going to be a dinner.”

“I’m gonna do the same but obviously drink my drink. Night snacking hits different,” Steve said. 

“That’s why I save all my food until night. I love a good midnight snack,” Bucky said.

Steve laughed. “You drink sparkling water instead of soda to be healthier but you eat all your snacks at night? There’s no way that can be healthy. I’m pretty sure you gain more calories when you eat at night.”

“My diet isn’t perfect but cutting out soda is good. I’ll be good about everything eventually,” Bucky said.

“I think you’re good overall now,” Steve said, smiling at Bucky.

It was true: Steve thought Bucky was great. He was talented, he was kind (after the apology, of course), he was ambitious, and he was attractive. There were very few bad things about him, and Steve didn’t even want to think about those things. Steve made his positive thoughts very clear the rest of the way to Bucky’s house. He wanted him to know that he had no hard feelings for anything that happened and that he was ready to move on. 

Bucky’s reaction was hard to gauge. He didn’t deny any compliments, but he didn’t really return the gesture, either. It seemed that he had forgiven Steve for high school but didn’t want to move past this weird stage of friendship they were at. Steve was praying that all that would change from being back home, that Bucky would remember how great they used to be back then.

Before Steve knew it, they were back in the place they fell in love.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading this most recent chapter! I'm sorry that it was a little slow again, but Steve and Bucky need some time to really figure out how they feel about each other. Stay tuned for the next chapter where Bucky remembers the relationship he and Steve once had and decides whether or not he wants to go back to that.


	7. Chapter 7 - Bucky

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Steve helps Bucky pack up some items from his room so they can do an apartment makeover. But just as Bucky is finally about to make his move, something goes wrong.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey everyone! If there's anyone reading this far, thank you so much. I've posted a one-shot and am planning on writing a few more, so please check those out if you enjoy this. Thank you for supporting this project, which I've been dreaming up for such a long time!

Steve Rogers always kept his room clean and organized. And bland. Bucky would call it boring, but that was too rude to say. Well, too rude for referring to Steve, at least. He’d definitely refer to Elektra as boring. Their personal style differences made Steve a weird person to help Bucky redo his apartment. That wasn’t to say that it wouldn’t be fun, however. Steve was doing his best to win back Bucky’s favor, and that had a lot of benefits for Bucky. Like the KwikTrip stop. And taking him back home overall.

Bucky told Steve that he could go to his own house and catch up with his parents, but he insisted on helping Bucky pack up stuff instead. He was pretty much what his mom would call a “real gentleman”.

There was no one in the house when Bucky and Steve arrived, presumably because Bucky’s parents were out for their weekly dinner at the local country club. Probably one of the things Bucky missed least about living at home. Something about the country club just screamed homophobia. The absence of his parents made it a lot easier for them to move his stuff out. His parents, specifically his mom, were incredibly nosey and would want to hear everything about both him and Steve since they had last seen them. Also his parents had an idea of what happened, and interaction with Steve opened up the possibility of them finding out the truth. 

Bucky’s old room was very much filled to the brim. There were tons of posters and drapings on the walls, rugs and towels on the floor, and assorted chachkies. 

Steve walked to the far corner of his room and picked up the lava lamp. “See, this is why I wanted to come. Our cool lava lamp.” 

“That’s the best thing in here. For sure should go in my apartment bedroom. Or maybe the bathroom, that would be kinda cool,” Bucky said. 

Steve laughed, “Buck, I think this would take up half the floor space in your bathroom. We’ll probably have to order a shower curtain and bathmat online and call it a cool bathroom.”

“Sadly, I think you’re right,” Bucky responded. “Do you think I should bring my old bedding or just buy new bedding?”

There were bright orange and yellow tie-dye sheets on Bucky’s bed. The pillow covers were a part of the matching set, but there were also three circular, yellow throw pillows of varying sizes. He had an orange duvet cover on and a light pink color he had crocheted in middle school to top it all off. Out of everything, the blanket he’d made was a for sure take. 

Steve thought about it for a moment before saying, “Take everything but the duvet. I hate the sunburst, always have. Maybe we could get one with cute polka dots or something.”

“I can vibe with polka dots,” Bucky said.

Being the helpful guy he was, Steve unmade Bucky’s bed. And, being way too attracted to Steve, Bucky watched him instead of doing anything productive. Suddenly, Steve turned around and tossed Bucky the bottom sheet to fold. Bucky blushed, surely Steve noticed that he’d been staring at him instead of doing actual work. And he didn’t want Steve to think he’d won that easily.

“I am physically incapable of folding a bottom sheet, so I’ll fold all the other sheets if you can do that,” Steve stated.

Bucky just nodded in response, still embarrassed by being caught. The fitted sheet was a pain in the ass to fold, but Bucky was happy to do a favor for Steve. They filled up an entire box with the bedding. Now it was time to move on to the floor and walls.

“I don’t know if I want a rug in my bedroom,” Bucky said. “And I definitely don’t want one that’s huge in my living room. I stretch in there and stuff and I like doing that on the hardwood floor. Especially if I’m doing stuff like actually practicing. Imagine trying to turn on a rug, that sounds like a death sentence.”

“I would comment on that if I were able to relate,” Steve commented. 

“Well, if my bedroom is going to be orange and yellow, my living room needs to be something different,” Bucky reflected.

“Maybe blue and purple?” Steve suggested. “Then you can put the lava lamp out there.”

“Steve, that is absolutely perfect. I love it,” Bucky gushed. 

They found a pretty blue rug quickly, seeing as he didn’t have many rugs and blue was a popular color. Also, his wall drapings were basically just sheets on the wall, so they pulled down some blue and orange ones and filled another box with them. They looked around the room for random decor items and easily filled up three boxes worth. It was definitely enough to fill up his apartment.

“I told my parents I was gonna be here tonight, so I should probably go see them before we go home,” Steve said. 

“I can come with, I don’t really wanna stay here alone,” Bucky said.

Steve lived two houses away from Bucky, so they loaded everything into Sam’s SUV and walked over to his house. It was a walk very familiar to Bucky. Starting in elementary school, he would go over to see Steve constantly. Whether it be a weekend, before school, or after school, Steve and Bucky were hanging out together. When they got to high school, they started being a little more sneaky about it. The people Steve hung out with really didn’t like Bucky, so it was easier for them to just hide their friendship.

The feelings that walking to Steve’s house brought suddenly started flooding back into Bucky’s memory. The excitement he always felt in elementary school and middle school, the fluttery nervousness in early high school, and the dreadful anxiousness in late middle school. But the feeling that came back the strongest was the fluttery nervousness. The butterflies in the stomach, the rapid heartbeat, and the sweating all started happening again. It was exactly like when he first discovered he had a crush on Steve.

Steve wasn’t a super oblivious person, so Bucky was sure he could sense what was going on. Bucky was starting to fall for him again.

“Hi, Bucky,” Steve’s mom, Sarah, greeted as they walked into his house. “It’s been so long since we’ve seen you.”

It had been a really long time since Bucky had been to Steve’s house. Junior year was the last time. But he had seen his parents since then, of course. They had gone to graduation and just seen him around town in general, it wasn’t a huge town.

The house still looked the same as it did back in high school. It was very much a midwestern house. Yes, the guest bathroom was beach themed. There was even still a framed photo of Steve and Bucky on the wall. Actually, not just one. There were at least five. It didn’t feel weird, considering Sarah and Joseph were ignorant to their falling out. 

This kitchen was where Steve and Bucky had first kissed. It was where they always hung out after school, eating snacks and talking. It was also where they got into their first fight over hiding their relationship. For Bucky, Steve’s kitchen wasn’t just a room: it was a place where his life had changed.

“It has been. It’s nice to see you again,” Bucky responded. 

“We’re so excited to hear you got such a big role,” Sarah enthused. “We’re going to come down and see it next month when you perform. I assume your parents will go down to see it as well. That’s the night we should go see it, we haven’t been out with them in so long. Back when you boys were still in high school, we used to hang out all the time. I miss those days.”

Steve tossed Bucky a water from the fridge and sat at their bar counter. “So do I.”

Bucky blushed a little bit. It was good that Steve missed that time, but it still made Bucky embarrassed. It was odd to think that Steve wasn’t the dick Bucky had thought him to be for so long. He was actually a nice guy, just like he had been when they were kids. 

“How long are you boys doing to be staying here? I have enough food to feed you for a week,” Sarah said, smiling at them.

“Oh, we can only stay for a little while,” Steve said. “We have rehearsal tomorrow morning as always.”

Bucky could tell Sarah was sad that they weren’t staying. And honestly, he felt bad for it. Sarah was one of the sweetest people Bucky knew, and she felt like more of a mom to him than his own mom during much of his childhood. It wasn’t that his mom was a bad mom, she just worked full time whereas Sarah was a stay at home mom. Sarah was always the one who had cute snacks for them after school and made sure they had all their homework done.

“We’ll probably come back to visit again soon, though,” Bucky added. 

Sarah smiled. “That would be amazing. You know, everyone around here misses you two. Everyone loves you.”

Well that was a straight up lie. Or at least it wasn’t the truth. It was surely true for Steve, he was the town sweetheart. Everyone around town knew and loved him. Bucky, on the other hand, was pretty much the town outcast. He was always seen as weird, especially considering the one sport he did was ballet. Losing his arm only cemented that position, even if that was the fault of the town royalty. 

“We miss everyone, too,” Steve said. “It’s really nice being able to still see Sam everyday. And Bucky, of course.”

“I’m so glad you were able to find such good friends. And that they stayed friends with you for so long,” Sarah stated.

“And it’s helpful having friends in the same line of work as you,” Steve added, smiling at Bucky.

“It’s super nice. Hey, can we bring some drinks on the road with us?” Bucky asked.

“Oh, of course,” Sarah answered.

Bucky walked over to the fridge and inspected its contents. Of course, there was cherry vanilla Pepsi for Steve. Since he was allowed to start drinking soda, Bucky had never seen Steve drink anything else. It was practically an addiction. Luckily, Sarah was an anti-soda person. All she had was orange sparking Bais, but that would suffice. Bucky grabbed one, as well as a cherry vanilla Pepsi for Steve. Hopefully it would be a good enough clue to both Sarah and Steve that it was time to go home.

“Well, ma, it was nice seeing you again,” Steve said, getting up and hugging Sarah.

“You guys need to come back soon for an entire weekend, okay?” Sarah requested.

“There’s nothing we’d like more,” Bucky said.

Sarah was, of course, a midwestern mom. That meant that it took around fifteen minutes to say goodbye before Bucky and Steve could get back on the road. They’d packed Sam’s SUV very full of Bucky’s stuff, so they wouldn’t be able to get it all unpacked and decorated that night. But that just meant that they’d have to spend more time together, so Bucky was okay with that.

“I could drive, you know,” Bucky suggested as they drove out of their hometown. “You don’t have to do all the work.”

“See, I’d be okay with that, but I’m not quite sure how much Sam would like that. You didn’t have the cleanest driving record when we were kids,” Steve replied.

It was true, Bucky was a bad driver in high school. He always hit curbs and sped up to make the orange lights. Now, however, he was a much safer driver. He’d almost rear ended an old lady about two years ago, and that was the end of reckless driving for him. 

“I promise I’ve changed by now. I still literally do not have any tickets. I was just very into… efficiency when we were younger,” Bucky said.

Steve snorted. “That’s one way to put it.”

Steve paused for a moment before saying, “It was really nice to see my mom tonight. It was too bad my dad was working. And too bad your parents were out. I haven’t seen them in such a long time. Do you go and see them a lot?”  
“Well, I rarely go back home,” Bucky answered. “I don’t really have the best memories associated with it there. But I do call them, like, once every two weeks. So that counts for something, I think.”

“I agree because I pretty much do the same. I mean, I try to go down to visit every once in a while, but the company makes me so busy. Obviously you know that. We barely have any free time,” Steve said.

“And our hometown is so far away from the company that it’s pretty much impossible to just go down for, like, dinner.”

“Yeah, exactly.”

“And I don’t know about you, but I still have to practice even when we don’t have rehearsals. Like, I have to stretch and workout every day, which takes up a considerable amount of time.”

“I’m not gonna lie, we have a lot less responsibility with all that than you guys do. I guess I still have to practice a little outside of rehearsals, but it isn’t, like, three hours a night or anything.”

“Then maybe we should start hanging out after work more, if you don’t really have that much stuff to do.”

“I thought you always had a lot to do.”

“I think I could clear out my schedule a little bit for you.”

It wasn’t technically a romantic advance, but Bucky had kinda intended it to be. He wanted to date Steve. He was such a sweet, attractive, overall great guy. And when they used to date it worked out well. Okay, maybe that wasn’t the most accurate statement. Their dating had gone well until people started to figure out what was going on. But now it would be acceptable for them to date.

“You know, I’d really like that, Buck,” Steve said, smiling at Bucky and setting his hand on his knee. 

With that advance, Bucky felt sure that Steve was also looking for a romantic relationship. He decided to lean in a little, preparing for a kiss.

Seemingly out of nowhere, Steve started to slow down and pull over.

“What’s wrong?” Bucky asked, a little alarmed.

“Something’s going on with the car, not quite sure what yet,” Steve answered.

Yeah, maybe it was a good thing Bucky didn’t drive.

“I gotta go check out the situation,” Steve said.

He got out and opened up the hood. Bucky was super annoyed that they had to have car issues right as he was about to make his move. Maybe there wasn’t even anything actually wrong with the car, Steve just didn’t want to date him. But then he wouldn’t have been acting as open to it as he had been: unless he just changed his mind when Bucky started to return the actions. Steve got back into the car after a few minutes.

“Yeah, that battery’s dead. Looks like we’re gonna be here for a little while.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading! I hope you're enjoying Steve and Buck getting closer and closer to a romantic relationship. Stay tuned for the next chapter, where Steve and Bucky try to fix their car, and maybe start a romance. (Also, Nat will be making another appearance very soon, I promise. I love her.)


	8. Chapter 8 - Steve

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Steve made the decision to make a move, but it started to seem like the wrong one.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey everyone! Thank you so much for the continued support, both on this story and my one shots. Every single read, like, and comment means the world to me. I'm sorry that this chapter is a little shorter than the others have been, but it was a very busy week for me. I hope you enjoy!

Bucky Barnes got cold and tired very easily. In middle school, Steve always kept an extra sweatshirt with him in case Bucky got cold (which was very often). In high school, Bucky would never go to any of the football games because he would get too cold. In hindsight, he was probably just trying to protect himself from the other boys. In both high school and middle school, Bucky always went to bed at early morning hours. He had a cell phone addiction, so he’d spend hours at night scrolling through social media and playing mobile games. It led to constant yawning and under eye circles. Now, stuck in Sam’s old SUV, Bucky was both cold and tired. It wasn’t helpful to Steve, who was trying to remain alert for his dad’s arrival. If Bucky fell asleep, Steve would likely follow suit. 

“There might be, like, a blanket in the back seat,” Steve suggested, glancing over at his freezing friend. Minnesota wasn’t a particularly warm place, but especially in the summer. And Bucky was wearing a t-shirt and jeans. Bucky was physically shivering, so Steve felt a little quilty. This whole trip had been his idea in the first place, and this car was his responsibility.

“I thought you wanted me to stay awake so you can stay awake,” Bucky said.

“I want you to be awake, not cold,” Steve defended. “Don’t you have your yellow sheets in the back? Or better yet, that pink blanket you crocheted forever ago.”

“I do, but I don’t really know where it is,” Bucky said.

“I’ll find it for you,” Steve offered.

They had packed the car full of stuff from Bucky’s house, and nothing was labeled. Steve had to get out of his seat and climb into the back in order to search. Of course, Bucky was the most disorganized person ever, so he’d never label or coordinate boxes, even if he were moving a ton of stuff. After digging through three boxes, Steve finally found the pink blanket. It was a simple stitch, but the yarn wasn’t cheap, so it had held up well over the years. It was surprisingly soft. Steve climbed back into his seat and draped the blanket around Bucky, tucking it in around his shoulders slightly.

Bucky smiled at him. “Thanks, Steve.”

Something about the smile and use of his name made Steve’s stomach flip. Bucky had always had such a beautiful smile. It fit in with the rest of his face. And something about the way he said Steve’s name was just exquisite. The more time he spent with Bucky, the more time he wanted to spend with him. He was easy to talk to and look at.

Within five minutes under the blanket, Bucky was no longer shivering. But he also looked way too close to falling asleep. 

“Buck, you don’t have to stay awake too much longer. Dad will be here soon, then you can sleep on the way home,” Steve stated.

Steve had called Joseph to come with some jumper cables to help fix the car. He knew a lot more about cars than Steve and Bucky combined. But it wasn’t like he could be there immediately: he had to get home, eat something, find the jumper cables, and drive to their location. Steve was guessing it would take at least another forty five minutes before he would show up. It was sure to be a long night for everyone.

Bucky yawned. “I’m trying, I promise. It’s just been a long day. You know rehearsal wasn’t the best ever. And then we had to do some physical labor to move my things. And I’m just a tired guy, I tend to go to bed early.”

“I honestly cannot believe that,” Steve said. “Remember when we were kids and we’d have sleepovers and you’d want to go to bed sooooo late but I’d always fall asleep at, like, ten? Because you always were awake until, like, two thirty. Especially in high school. Your phone addiction kept you awake all night playing, like, Candy Crush and shit. And then you’d send me all these stupid videos that you thought were funny but would regret in the morning.”

“Oh my gosh, nooooo. Those videos haunt me. I can’t stand the humor I was so into in my teen years. That’s why I go to bed early now, I can’t stand what I’m like at night,” Bucky explained. 

Steve smiled and shook his head. “You’re so adorable.”

Considering the romantic and sexual tension between them, Steve knew that probably wasn’t the best comment. However, he did think it was true. So maybe it wasn’t a bad thing to say. But he could feel Bucky’s entire demeanor change. He suddenly felt vulnerable and open, which was very different from his usual closed-off self. Steve could feel both of them moving closer together.

“I’d call you adorable as well, but I don’t think that’s the best descriptor for you,” Bucky said. 

It was true, Steve definitely wasn’t a cute guy. Well, depending on what kind of cute. Definitely not cute personality wise. In the sense of being attractive, however… He didn’t want to call himself hot, but a lot of people had definitely said it for him. It wasn’t like he had a big ego, but he did know his worth.

“Well you’re adorable for sure,” Steve said. “I mean, and a lot of other things. Like hot. And more. But I’m not going to list everything good about you, it would take too long.”

Adorable had been Steve’s go to word for Bucky during their… thing. It was a great description for Bucky: he was physically cute and had a cute personality. His crocheted blanket and ballet was proof of it. Oh, and his laugh. There was an indescribable attractiveness to it. Something about Bucky just drew Steve in. He was so sweet and interesting and intelligent and beautiful. Steve would probably describe him as perfect. 

“You know, I could say the same about you,” Bucky said.

Steve smirked. “Yeah?’

Bucky nodded. “Oh, for sure.”

Steve’s eyes drifted down from Bucky’s eyes to his mouth, where his tongue was wetting his lips. God, he was so perfect. He was absolutely gorgeous, and Steve just knew his lips were still as soft as they were in high school. Well, he didn’t know. But he did want to find out.

His theory was correct.

When Steve walked into his house at three thirty in the morning, Sam was sitting awake on their couch, doing something on his phone. Considering he was someone who’d normally be asleep before eleven, this was very abnormal.

“Hey, why are you still up?” Steve asked, draping his coat over a dining room chair.

“I've been waiting for you,” Sam stated.

“Oh, I’m sorry. You didn’t have to do that. I told you we’d be home around this time,” Steve said.

“Yeah, but I wanted to make sure you guys actually got home okay. In case something else were to happen with the car. I would’ve had to come get you or something like that. It was just a better bet to wait for you,” Sam explained.

“Well I’m sorry you had to stay up,” Steve apologized. “Hopefully you don’t have to be at work early tomorrow. Also because your car probably needs to get fixed before you can actually go do things.”

Sam joked, “So does that mean I get to take your car since you’re the one who broke mine?”

“Genuinely, you can take my car, Sam. I’ll get Bucky to bring me to and from work,” Steve offered. 

Sam shook his head. “I wouldn’t take your car, I can figure it out.”

Sam was a really nice guy, and he always had been. When Steve first got his job, it was Sam’s idea that they live together to save money. And Sam had paid over half their bills for quite a while until Steve made enough money to pay his share. That was a pretty big deal considering Sam was living off of a relatively small salary. He was one of Steve’s only friends who hadn’t been there when everything happened with Bucky, which was a big part of why they had stayed friends.

Steve sat down next to Sam on the couch, but still kept a decent distance between them. He knew Sam was tired, so he didn’t want to infringe on his personal space. He wanted to tell him what had happened, but he wasn’t sure if he’d approve.

“Sam?” Steve asked, bouncing his knee up and down.

“Hmm?” Sam responded.

“I have to tell you something,” Steve announced.

“Well I could tell that much. Just say it,” Sam ordered.

“I kissed Bucky. Or maybe he kissed me. I don’t know,” Steve said, the face of his bouncing increasing.

The room went silent. Maybe telling him was the wrong choice. Back when Steve and Bucky had started dating, absolutely no one knew. Sam found out when everyone else did, and it definitely hurt him. Sam was Steve’s best friend, aside from Bucky. Besides, Bucky and Steve were on very bad terms until recently. Sam would surely see that as a red flag.

“Why did you kiss him?” Sam questioned.

Steve blushed a little and shrugged. That was not the question he was expecting. “I dunno, because I wanted to, I guess. I still really like him. He’s a good guy. And he’s attractive, of course.”

“He’s also the only long-term boyfriend you’ve ever had, Steve. Not to mention that you dated during high school,” Sam stated. “So do you actually like him or do you just want a relationship?”

That was an interesting thought. Steve had always assumed that he’d just never gotten over Bucky, but maybe he’d never gotten over the  _ idea _ of Bucky. Sam was right, he was the only real boyfriend he’d ever had. But how could he figure out his true feelings? He could either date Bucky or date someone else, which both had the potential to hurt Bucky. Steve wasn’t quite sure if he was in love with him or the idea of him, but he knew he’d never purposely hurt Bucky.

“I haven’t thought about that. I guess I need to do more thinking about that. But do know he wants to date me, so there’s that. And I definitely think he’s hot and fun to be around, so I think I wanna date him. And it was a good relationship when we dated in high school,” Steve said.

“Well I recommend you figure that all out before you go any further,” Sam said.

Sam got a ride from a co-worker the next day, so Steve didn’t have to ask Bucky for a ride or drive Sam out of his way. Though he wouldn’t admit it, Steve was hoping Bucky would give him a ride so they could spend more time together. They could have listened to that throwback playlist again. At least they had Bucky’s apartment to decorate, which would take at least two sessions of hanging out. That was an event where they could definitely listen to music. Because he wanted to see Bucky, Steve came into work a little early the next day. He was going to go see Bucky in his dressing room, and hopefully kiss him again. 

“Good morning,” Steve said, walking into Bucky’s dressing room.

Bucky was standing at the barre on the edge of his room, warming up. Steve loved watching it. Especially when he extended into his arabesque, something about it was so beautiful to him. He was also drinking a smoothie. At the same time.

“Hey,” Bucky said, not looking up from his spot on the wall or dropping his arabesque.

“Did you get enough sleep last night?” Steve asked. “We got home pretty late. I know you slept a little in the car, but definitely not enough to satisfy the need.”

“Yep,” Bucky responded quickly.

“I’m sorry, am I bothering you? I can go,” Steve said. “I kinda forgot that you had to warm up and stuff and that I’d probably just distract from that. I should probably go warm up, anyways.”

“If you want,” Bucky said. He was still looking at the wall, never having so much as glanced in Steve’s direction.

This was not normal Bucky behavior. Bucky was always kind and outgoing, not snappy and shut off. Steve’s first thought was that something bad had happened. Like his mom getting sick or something similar. Then he realized that he would’ve heard by now if something bad happened to Bucky’s parents, either from Bucky himself or his parents. The only other thing he could think of was that he was simply tired. There wasn’t enough time for either of them to get a good night’s sleep.

“Wait, did I do something wrong?” Steve asked. He didn’t like the vibes Bucky was giving off.

Bucky sighed and turned so both his hands were on the barre, making him face the wall so that Steve wasn’t even in his peripheral vision. “Not really, no. I’m just tired and warming up,” Bucky said.

“Can I do something to help?”

“I mean, you could leave.”

“Something other than that.”

“Leave and throw away my smoothie cup?”

“Something that doesn’t involve leaving?

“They all involve leaving.”

Steve wasn’t going to fight Bucky, it wouldn’t help anything. He’d just talk to him after rehearsal, he’d probably be more awake and receptive by then. Although he still wouldn’t have much sleep and his muscles would be tired out. But, from experience, physical activity tended to make Bucky more energized. He decided to be a nice guy and take Bucky’s smoothie cup to throw away. It would make him more likely to be warm towards Steve later on in the day. 

Steve lingered and watched Bucky warm up for a moment before walking out. He was absolutely perfect. His legs were so toned, and Steve just loved it. His entire body was ideal. In a way, Steve was jealous. He knew he was a decent looking guy, but he felt like nothing compared to Bucky. Bucky was just perfect. 

That was how he knew he was supposed to be with Bucky.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope you enjoyed the chapter! Next week Natasha will make another appearance and we get to see why Bucky seems to be acting so weird. Thank you so much for the support! (Also, I know I always say this, but new chapters will continue to be uploaded on Sundays. They may be a little later than they used to be, but life is starting to get a little busy.}


	9. Chapter 9 - Bucky

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Bucky doesn't really know why, but he doesn't want to be around Steve after the kiss. And someone shows up, making his life a little more complicated.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey everyone! Thank you so much for continuing to read this story! I love it so much, I already have ideas in my mind to make it into a series. It really means a lot to me to see people interact with all of my stories, but especially this one. I honestly created this account just to put this story out there. It means a lot to me that there are people who are actually reading it, and hopefully enjoying it as much as I am. Thank you so much for reading, and I hope you enjoy this chapter!

Steve Rogers was bold. He had never been scared of confrontation. At least, not until it came to junior year homecoming. He’d done everything except confrontation then. When they were in the car, however, Steve decided to confront Bucky. Well, maybe confrontation wasn’t the best word. He’d kissed him. Bucky had wanted to kiss him both then and before the car broke down in the first place. But when it actually happened, something changed.

As soon as Steve dropped Bucky off at his apartment, he went to bed. He wanted to call Nat, but he was tired and didn’t want to disturb her. He could easily just go see her in the morning. Or during rehearsal. Honestly, it wasn’t uncommon for Bucky and Natasha to talk during rehearsal. They’d do it as long as the company owner, Tony, wasn’t there. They didn’t want to risk their careers that much. 

Bucky woke up late in the morning, so he didn’t shower or eat breakfast. He took his pajamas off, sprayed on some deodorant and cologne, and changed into rehearsal clothes. On the drive over, he realized how hungry he was. There wasn’t enough time for a real breakfast, but he could hit Smoothie King. He bought his giant smoothie and rushed over to the company.

Five minutes into warming up at the barre in his dressing room, Steve came in to talk to him. It wasn’t a big deal, though, Bucky got him out of there quickly. He didn’t want to be interrupted in his warm up, and he just didn’t feel like seeing Steve in general. Not after the past night. 

Steve had specifically asked him, “Did I do anything wrong?”

It was a loaded question that made Bucky feel guilty. Bucky would’ve initiated the kiss if Steve wouldn’t have. So it wasn’t like Steve had specifically done anything wrong. Bucky felt guilty for making Steve feel bad. That wasn’t his intention at all. The kiss had just stirred up new feelings in him that he had wished to suppress. 

The pas de trio was where Nat and Bucky found time to talk. Nat wasn’t on stage at all and Bucky was just sitting on the edge of the stage, acting. Considering neither of them were important to the scene, no one cared that Nat came onto the stage and whispered to Bucky the entire time. 

“Hey,” Nat said, sitting next to Bucky on the stage.

“I’m so glad you’re here, I have so much to tell you,” Bucky enthused.

Nat rolled her eyes. “Oh, of course you do.”

“Well Steve and I went back home last night so it’s actually important,” Bucky said. “It isn’t just my normal talk, things went down.”

Natasha raised an eyebrow. “Is that so?”

“He kissed me when our car broke down,” Bucky stated.

“Okay, there’s a lot to unpack from that statement,” Nat said. 

“Well it was a really weird time. To be honest, I was prepared to kiss him when we were in the car before it broke down. But then it did break down and he was the one to kiss me.”

“So… that’s a good thing, right?”

“I thought it was going to be good but it just… wasn’t.”

“So he’s a bad kisser?”

“I wouldn’t say that.”

“Then what would you say?”

Before Bucky could say anything more, the pas de trios ended. This wasn’t a rehearsal where they went through the full show, so their next scene was the Allegro moderato, Moderato, Allegro vivo. It was where Prince Segfried saw Odette. Luckily, they did dance together in the scene. Bucky would be able to tell Nat the rest of what happened, but he’d have to be pretty discrete. 

“So, the engine died but Steve’s dad jumped it and we made it home fine,” Bucky explained. “But we were in the car for a loooooong time before he even got there. And I was really cold so he put a blanket around me.”

“He did that for you? That’s scandalous,” Nat stated.

“It honestly created a lot of sexual tension,” Bucky expressed.

“So then h-” Nat started, suddenly cutting off. 

There was no reason for them to stop talking, it was quiet and it didn’t affect their dancing. It wasn’t a big deal: most people talked during rehearsal.

Shit.

Tony Stark was standing at the back of the theater.

Tony Stark owned the company. All the big decisions came down to him. If he was friends with you, you’d have a much easier time rising to the top. Bucky had no idea how long he’d been there. If he’d been watching the entire time, that would be bad. He’d know they were talking, and this was Bucky’s first big role. He couldn’t risk that. Natasha, on the other hand, was fine. Just like everyone else, Tony loved her. He was a big part of the reason she rose to the top instead of Elektra.

Nat and Bucky finished up their dance and walked off into the wings. Backstage, everyone was buzzing. Most people had only seen Tony in the audience of shows or at their after parties. He never just showed up to watch rehearsal.

“How long has he been out there?” Bucky asked.

“I dunno, I stopped talking as soon as I saw him,” Nat answered. “But he could’ve been out there longer, I didn’t see him walk in or anything.”

“I haven’t seen him since The Nutcracker, honestly,” Bucky said.

“He’s probably been too busy getting drunk off company money,” Elektra said, walking up behind the pair.

“Just because he doesn’t want to fuck you doesn’t mean he’s a terrible person, Elektra,” Bucky said, rolling his eyes at her.

Elektra had never had a good relationship with Tony. She’d tried to suck up to him when she first arrived, but he’d seen through all her bullshit. Ever since then, she’d had a burning hatred towards him. Overall, everyone always rejected her and she hated them for it. 

“Oh please, I’d never go for him,” Elektra said. “He’s really not my type. He’s too old.”

“On a serious note, any clue why he’s here?” Nat questioned. 

“Probably to replace you two with your understudies. Everyone’s noticed how off your game you’ve been recently, especially Bucky,” Elektra answered.

Bucky could feel his face flush red. It was true, he’d been doing poorly recently. He was so distracted with the Steve drama that he just couldn’t focus on his dancing. But he was doing a good job, regardless. Bucky assumed that Elektra was just giving him shit, but it could honestly be accurate. Well, accurate for him. Not Natasha, of course. She was flawless and Tony loved her. 

“He’s seen Bucky dance before, he knows what he’s like,” Nat said. “He wouldn’t replace him.”

“Don’t be too sure about that,” a male voice said from behind them. All three of them turned around to see who it was. Of course, it was none other than Tony Stark.

“I still don’t get it,” Bucky ranted, pacing around Nat’s room. “In all the year’s I’ve been here, he’s never done this. It can’t just be some random thing. It’s unfair, I don’t understand why this is happening.”

“Calm down, Buck,” Nat reasoned.

Bucky shook his head. “I can’t calm down. I can’t lose this job. I love it here, I love the people here. I think Elektra was right: I bet Tony is going to replace me. I’ve been way too distracted with all the Steve stuff. Maybe I should just cut Steve out of my life. He’s always caused a lot of drama. Maybe he’s my issue. Maybe leaving would be best. If Tony fires me I can escape from all the Steve stuff.”

Natasha sighed. “Bucky, you really need to calm down. Don’t cut Steve out, you love him and you know it. Besides, if Tony were here to fire you, he would’ve done it already. The performances start in a week, he’d want to give your understudy as much time as possible to prepare. I’m sure he’s just curious to see how smooth things are running and if he needs to do any additional work on his end. I’m sure he’s just scoping out to see if there’s a new girl he can date. I heard he and his long-distance girlfriend finally broke up.”

“Good, they never worked well together, anyways,” Bucky stated.

“Now, you never told me what all happened with Steve in the car,” Nat said. “Tony cut us off.”

Bucky sat down on her floor and started rolling out his legs. He’d been too distracted by Tony to do any of his after-rehearsal routine. 

“I mean, I did tell you everything. He kissed me and it was good. Then we listened to some music and his dad showed up and fixed the car. And then he drove home and I slept,” Bucky said.

Nat started changing into her street clothes. “So I don’t understand why you’re all freaked out, then. You also wanted to kiss him and it was good. It honestly sounds like an ideal situation.”

“But it just didn’t feel right,” Bucky explained. “I mean, it felt good in the moment. But right after we were done kissing, I felt like shit.”

“Yeah? Why?”

“It just reminded me of how things used to be, you know? Like, it reminded me of when we were kids and we used to drive his parents’ car out to far away forests so we could make out without anyone seeing us. Back when we were hiding our relationship.”

“I thought you liked those days.”

“I liked them, but they're painful now. Now I know how that story ends.”

“But that story hasn’t ended: it’s really just beginning. You and Steve have the opportunity to rekindle your romance. You don’t know how that’s going to end. You’re not even giving it a chance. Imagine if I just would’ve ignored Matt that night that we met because I’d assumed he wouldn’t want to make our relationship serious. Then I’d probably be single and unhappy right now. I would’ve missed out on the love of my life. I don’t want to watch you make that mistake.”

“It’s a little much to say that he’s the love of my life.”

“Hey, you never know until you try.”

Maybe Nat was right, maybe he should give the relationship a shot. Well, that was if Steve even wanted a real relationship. There was a slim chance it would end with another lost arm, just a broken heart at the least.

“Hey, I saw that you weren’t in your room so I came in here,” Steve said, walking into Natasha’s dressing room. 

“What do you want?” Bucky asked. Nat glared at him and he blushed. “Sorry, what’s up?”

“Maybe we could, like, do something tonight?” Steve proposed.

“I mean, obviously I’m not in the best of moods right now,” Bucky said.

Steve blushed. “Oh, okay. That’s fine, too.”

“I mean, what is it that you want to do?” Bucky asked.

“We could just chill at my place, order some food,” Steve suggested. “Or we could start moving your stuff in.”

“Let’s go to your place, I can handle that,” Bucky said.

“Awesome. I’ll meet you there in a few minutes?”

“I need to go shower and get changed first, so make it an hour.

“You could do that at my place.”

Both Steve and Bucky turned bright red. That was a rather bold statement from Steve. Although, Bucky did find it sweet that he offered. But it was way too intimate of a thing for their stage of relationship.

Steve apologized, “I shouldn’t have said that, I’m sorry. Obviously you don’t have to come shower at my house. I only meant that you can come directly to my place. But it’s fine that you go back to yours, I can just chill for a little. It probably needs to be cleaned up, anyways.”

“Well, I guess I’ll see you there.”

“Guess so.”

Bucky prepared to go over to Steve’s house in the same way he would a date. He had a very thorough shower, using all of his best smelling products. And he put on his best underwear, best jeans, best shirt, best socks, and best shoes. He wanted to show Steve just how good he was. He’d decided to follow Nat’s advice and give the relationship the best chance he could. And that started by seducing Steve.

When Bucky walked into Steve’s house, he was shocked by how large it was. It’d looked smaller from the outside. The fact that Steve and Sam could afford a place so nice was a little mind blowing. Honestly, Bucky was jealous. Sam’s car wasn’t in the driveway or garage, so Bucky assumed it would be just him and Steve all night. That was the ideal situation. 

“Hey, sorry if it’s still a little messy in here,” Steve said, walking in from the kitchen.

“You’ve seen my apartment before, so you don’t need to apologize,” Bucky said.

“There’s nothing in it, how could it be messy,” Steve teased. 

Bucky rolled his eyes. “Hey, you know how messy it’s about to be. Did you notice that Tony was out there during rehearsal today?”

“Yeah, rumor is he’s scouting out talent for The Nutcracker,” Steve said.

“Already? It’s the same show every year and we have the same group of people,” Buck complained.

“He likes to pretend like he’s going to switch up the casting just to get people excited, but then he just does it the same as always,” Steve explained.

Bucky sat down on Steve’s couch. It was one of the most uncomfortable things he’d ever sat on, but it did look nice. Maybe that was how Sam and Steve could get such a nice house, it just looked nice but was actually shitty.

“I do love Tony, though. He’s cool,” Steve said.

“I’ve barely ever talked to him,” Bucky admitted.

“His office is close to our set of practice rooms, so he and I have a lot of those uncomfortable small talk conversations,” Steve said, sitting next to Bucky.

Not only did he sit next to him, he sat close to him. Like, there was barely an inch of space in between their knees. Bucky could feel his heart rate start to pick up. God, being in close proximity to Steve always made him so nervous. 

“I guess I only ever really talk to you and Nat at work,” Bucky said.

“Yeah? That’s cute,” Steve commented.

Cute. Maybe this was gonna work. Steve obviously had feelings for him, Bucky didn’t know how he didn’t realize it sooner. He’d never wanted to become friends again, he’d just wanted to date again. And honestly, Bucky had felt the same way.

This time, Bucky was the one initiating the kiss.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading this chapter! Tony is going to play a part later on in this story or at least series, so I figured I'd introduce him now. If anyone reading this is into interaction, please comment and let me know which characters you'd like to follow in other parts of the series. I have some ideas on who I'd like to follow, but I'm very open to suggestions. As always, I'm so glad you've continued to read this and I hope you enjoyed the chapter! In the next chapter, Steve will do his best to define their relationship and figure out the best way to deal with Bucky's dramatics.


	10. Chapter 10 - Steve

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> As Swan Lake performances draw nearer, Steve begins to get caught up in Bucky's drama.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi everyone! Thank you so much for the continued support! I'm sorry that this chapter is a little late and a little short, but I've been very busy this week. I hope you enjoy this chapter!

Bucky Barnes was probably the most stunning person Steve had ever met. Well, Nat and Matt had to be up there as well. But regardless, Bucky was absolutely stunning. Steve loved his smile, especially the shy way he looked down when he smiled. And his gorgeous eyes that twinkled when he laughed. Obviously his body was perfectly toned, the years of ballet training made that clear. And, honestly, Steve was beginning to find the metal arm a very attractive feature. His attractiveness was heightened by the fact that he actually reciprocated Steve’s feelings.

“So, what changed from this morning to now?” Steve asked, pulling away from Bucky’s kiss.

Bucky’s face flushed red. “I feel like you probably don’t want to get into that.”

“Oh, but I do,” Steve encouraged.

“It’s just the normal annoying Bucky shit,” Bucky stated.

“That’s not really a thing. You’re never annoying,” Steve said.

“Well you’ll be annoyed by this.”

“Try me.”

“I guess the kiss just brought up some old emotions. Like, the last time we kissed wasn’t necessarily pleasant. But I know that you’re not like that now and stuff, so it’s all fine.”

Steve was embarrassed of what he had done in high school. Or, rather, what he hadn’t done. It had had such a lasting effect on Bucky, and particularly on their relationship. If he could go back in time, he would do anything and everything possible to prevent Bucky from losing his arm. Even if it was now one of his most attractive features. 

“Well, I’m really glad that it’s all good now. I enjoy being around you, I don’t want to go through another period where we don’t see each other.”

“Yeah, neither do I.”

Steve was so happy to have Bucky back at his house, just hanging out with him. And that they were getting into romantic territory again. Even though they’d been reconnected for a short period of time, Steve knew that he loved Bucky. He always had. It was a hard feeling for him to shake. Now he just had to find out if Bucky felt the same way. 

“Buck, can I call you my boyfriend now? Like, am I allowed to tell people that we’re dating?” Steve asked.

“Yeah, sure, I’d like that,” Bucky responded.

“Hey, you seem really distracted again. Is everything okay? Do you think we’re moving too fast? I won’t tell anyone if you don’t want me to,” Steve cautioned.

“I’m honestly really worried by all this Tony stuff,” Bucky said, bouncing his leg. “He basically said that he was looking at replacing me. I can’t have that happen, I love it here. I can’t imagine dancing for another company.”

“I don’t think he’s actually going to fire you, Buck. He’s just trying to put pressure on you so you’ll dance better. He does it to other people, too. You know you’ve been off your game at a few recent rehearsals,” Steve stated.

Bucky stared at him. “Are you kidding me? There were two rehearsals where I was in my head. Two. Out of how many a week? You really think that I should be fired for that?”

“Hey, you’re putting words in my mouth. I’m not saying you should be fired, I’m just saying why he’s doing that,” Steve explained.

“I think it's unfair. Nat has off days and he would never dare say anything to her,” Bucky said.

“Well they have a weird relationship. Maybe you should try talking to him and stuff. It might help your standing with the company to be friends with him,” Steve suggested.

“I just don’t even want to think about work anymore,” Bucky said.

“Maybe we should watch a movie,” Steve said.

“I’d rather talk. I wanna hear more about your life during the period we didn’t talk,” Bucky said.

Steve hesitated. That was a dark time period in his life. He’d felt so incredibly guilty for what had happened to Bucky. It was hard to go through life without his best friend. Not to mention the fact that during that period, Bucky seemed to thrive. All Steve really did was play trumpet and get kicked out of the military. 

“I mean, it was a really low period of my life,” Steve explained. “I had no friends other than Sam, I never really dated anyone: I literally just practiced my trumpet that entire time.”

“What about senior year of high school?” Bucky asked.

“You were there for that,” Steve stated.

“But I wasn’t friends with you,” Bucky responded.

Steve answered, “I mean, I really just hung out with my friends. We went to a lot of parties that year, too. It was the first time I’d ever really started drinking. I’m pretty sure I had a few girlfriends, but I don’t remember that part too much. And then I did all the college stuff, but I didn’t get into the good performing arts schools I wanted to. That’s really why I went into the army. I mean, I knew I’d kinda like it, but it felt like my only opportunity to continue my music without going to a school that wasn’t top tier.”

“And then you got your job here?”

“Yeah. And then I was just living here with Sam, going to work, and pretty much nothing else. And now we’re here.”

“Now we’re here,” Bucky repeated.

Steve was very glad that this was where he was at now. It was really hard for him, living without Bucky. During the time they weren’t together, he’d constantly found himself wanting to go talk to Bucky and get advice from him. He was sure that his life would’ve been very different if he would’ve stayed friends with Bucky. He probably would’ve gone to college, or gone straight to the company. And, likely, he and Bucky would be married by now.

“It’s weird, I feel like our period apart was the best part of your life and the worst of mine,” Steve said.

“I mean, I discovered the person I really am. I needed some time to myself to really do that,” Bucky stated.

Steve responded, “So did I. But I didn’t really like that person.”

With Swan Lake performances starting in a week, everyone was extremely busy. Well, everyone but Steve. He already had his music down, he didn’t need to put in any extra practice. Besides, his role was a lot less nerve wracking. Both Bucky and Nat were both spending their entire days at practice, so Matt and Steve decided to spend some time together. They were both bored of being bored.

“Hey,” Steve said, walking into Matt and Nat’s apartment.

“Hey, I’m in the kitchen,” Matt greeted.

Steve navigated his way through the apartment and into the kitchen, sitting at one of the three bar spots.

“So, how chaotic is it for you now that it’s performance week?” Steve requested.

“Well, less bad than the first performance week,” Matt answered. “Honestly, she’s always so busy, so I don’t even see her that often. But I can tell how nervous she is. I’m excited to go see it.”

“I’m excited for you to come. It’s pretty much the quintessential ballet. I think it’s probably the first one I ever listened to the entire way through,” Steve said.

“What was the first one you saw?” Matt asked.

Steve blushed a little. “I’ve never seen a ballet.”

“What, what? You work for the ballet company and you’ve never even seen a ballet?” Matt questioned.

“I mean, I went to go see the stuff that Bucky was in when we were kids, but they weren’t really real ballets. And then when we got older, I went to this one with my friends but they went to make fun of him so we ended up leaving part way through. And then we were hiding our relationship, so I could never go see local things that he was doing,” Steve said.

Matt handed him a Pepsi and sat at the stool next to his. “It’s sad that you’ll never really get to see him perform.”

“Well, I get to see him practice when they practice without us. But yeah, I’ll probably never see him do a full, actual performance,” Steve said.

Steve was happy to be hanging out with Matt again. He’d been so focused on winning Bucky back that the only friend he’d really spent any time with was Sam. And if they didn’t live together, even that wouldn’t be true. Hanging out with Matt was nice because they didn’t work together, but he still had a lot of insight into his profession.

“Is it weird working with the person that you’re in a relationship with?” Matt asked.

Steve opened his Pepsi and took a sip before responding. “Well, I don’t really know. I mean, dating him is all I know. I’ve never really been with anyone else. And we don’t do the same thing there, so we’re not really working with each other ever. I only get to see him before and after rehearsals.”

“So you guys probably see each other the same amount that Nat and I see each other.”

“Yeah, probably.”

Matt and Natasha were pretty much the blueprint relationship for Steve and Bucky. They had their own separate lives and still made time for each other. Of course, they were super sweet to each other and we're just overall a cute couple.

“Hey, you know Tony, right?” Steve asked.

“Yeah, I've known him for quite a while,” Matt confirmed. “Why? Is he giving you shit?”

“Nah, he's kinda giving Bucky shit. He's basically insinuating that this will be his only time having a big role and it's really messing with Bucky,” Steve explained. 

“I mean, is he doing bad? Because knowing Tony, it isn’t always a joke,” Matt stated.

“He’s had a few rough rehearsals. But overall he’s doing good, it isn’t like he’s terrible or anything,” Steve said.

“Well, Tony’s weird so I guess it’s all a guessing game now,” Matt said.

Steve stayed at Matt’s until Nat came back from rehearsal: he’d figured they’d want some alone time. They’d mainly just talked about the show next week, but also general relationship stuff. To Steve, it seemed like Matt was very good at being a boyfriend. Now that he was back in a relationship, he wanted to be the same way. It was a little different, as Bucky and Natasha were opposites in a lot of ways, but Steve felt like he got some valuable insight from Matt.

Steve went into rehearsal the next day more nervous than usual. It was their first of three dress rehearsals, so everything had to be perfect. Not wanting to do anything wrong on the first full rehearsal day, Steve got to work early to grab a practice room and really make sure all his music was perfected. 

After talking to Molly for ten minutes about the best Starburst color, Steve made his way to the practice rooms. There were four practice rooms at the company, and they were on the complete opposite side of the stage and ballet studios. They always had to factor in the travel time if they wanted to practice before a rehearsal. As he started down the hallway, he heard someone call his name. It was Tony.

Steve backtracked to Tony’s office and stood in his doorway.

“What’s up?” He asked, leaning against his door frame.

“We need to talk. Take a seat,” Tony said.

Steve walked in and sat at one of the two chairs across from Tony’s desk. His office was an interesting place. It was honestly pretty bland, as he didn’t spend too much time in there. Steve wasn’t exactly sure what Tony did, but he knew he didn’t do much of it in his office. What was in his office, however, was very interesting. There was some abstract art that looked more expensive than Steve’s house. He was sure Tony didn’t pick it out himself. There were also lots of pictures on the walls of different ballerinas from throughout the years with Tony. To Steve, it seemed to be somewhat of a memorial wall to all the girls Tony had had sex with. He was kinda like that.

“We need to have a talk about Bucky,” Tony began.

Shit. Steve had absolutely no idea where this was going.

“Listen, I don’t really feel like it’s inappropriate that we’re together. I mean, you’ve dated company girls before,” Steve defended. “Besides, Bucky and I never even see each other at work, so it really doesn’t affect anything.”

Tony smirked at him, obviously very amused by everything he had just said. “This is not about that. Quite frankly, I don’t really care about your relationship with Bucky.”

Steve blushed. Now he really had no idea what this was about. “Oh. Sorry about that.”

“Now, let’s get down to what this is really about,” Tony started. “I don’t know what to do about Bucky. I’ve been getting a lot of reports that he isn’t performing the way he should be. I personally cast him in this role because I knew that he and Tasha would have great chemistry. And I thought the role would help him grow, which it has. The issue here is, I don’t feel like it’s made him grow the amount he should have.”

Steve was confused as to why he was the one hearing this and not Bucky. There was nothing Steve could do to improve Bucky’s performance. Maybe Tony was trying to manipulate him in some way. 

“Other than my relationship with him, what does this have to do with me?” Steve asked. 

“I’m at a little bit of a loss as to how to handle this. I figure you can help, you know him better than I do,” Tony said.

“Well, how can I help?” Steve questioned.

“I need you to help me figure out how to get him to not perform in this show.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading this chapter, I hope you liked it! I'm honestly not quite sure if there's anyone reading this far. If there is, I'm thinking that there will be five more chapters in this story and then it will be done. However, I love this universe that I've created and have a few other works planned for this series. If there is anyone reading this, I would love to hear what story you would like to hear next. I have planned a high school prequel, a story about Nat and Matt, a story about Elektra, and a story about Tony. Again, if there is anyone reading this, please let me know which one of these you would most like to see next. In next week's chapter, Bucky and Steve's relationship will further progress, and Bucky will have to reevaluate what he wants to do with his life.


	11. Chapter 11 - Bucky

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Bucky tries to figure out what Steve's hiding and discovers that maybe he didn't want to know.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi everyone! Thank you so much for continuing to read this story! I can't believe it's almost done. But trust me, it won't be the ending. This universe is fully fleshed out in my mind. I hope you enjoy!

Steve Rogers had something to hide. What was that thing? Bucky had absolutely no clue. What he did know was that Steve was a terrible liar. He could tell there was some secret. When they were kids, Steve used to get very nervous when he had something to hide. He couldn’t even look Bucky in the eyes if he had a secret gift for him. Although it was bad for Bucky, it was great for Steve. Now he’d have to figure out what this secret was. 

Bucky invited Steve over to his apartment to help decorate, but what he really wanted was to figure out what was on Steve’s mind. He cleaned up his apartment a little and bought some cherry vanilla Pepsi and rice crispy treats. Steve was gonna love it.

Steve walked into Bucky’s apartment five minutes before he was supposed to. Bucky thought it was so sweet that he actually wanted to be early. Plus, he came bearing gifts.

“Heyyy,” Steve greeted, walking into his apartment.

“Hey, I’m glad you showed up,” Bucky said.

“Have I ever not showed up?’ Steve asked.

Bucky smiled at him. “No, I’m just happy to see you.”

Ever since that night in the car, Steve and Bucky’s relationship had been amazing. Of course, the fact that it was the week before their performance did slow things down a little. This was the first night in five days that they’d actually seen each other. Bucky was feeling confident enough in his performance to spend some time focusing on other things. 

“I brought you a few gifts,” Steve said.

Bucky blushed. “Oh gosh. I have a feeling I’m about to feel like a really bad boyfriend.”

Steve laughed and shook his head. “It’s just casual, I promise. I just saw some stuff and thought of you.”

Steve handed Bucky a little bag as well as a large cup from Smoothie King. Bucky took a small sip: a Pineapple Surf. Steve really knew the way to his heart. In the bag was a pair of soft, blush pink slippers. Bucky smiled and put them on. Super warm and soft, as he’d expected.

“I thought maybe you’d like them to keep your feet feeling nice during the performance season,” Steve explained.

“I love them so so much, baby,” Bucky gushed. “They’re literally so perfect. You’re so perfect. Now the Pepsi I got for you feels like such a shitty gift. You’re so sweet and thoughtful.”

“But I love Pepsi a lot, it’s perfect,” Steve said.

Bucky handed him a Pepsi from the fridge and started opening the boxes filling his living room. Since they had brought all his stuff over from his childhood home, he’d simply left it put away. He knew that it would be fun to do it with Steve and he was also just lazy. He didn’t want to do it himself and he certainly didn’t want to do it until he absolutely had to.

“I was thinking we would start with the living room, since we’re already out here. And I did order all the bathroom stuff, by the way. They’re in boxes in my bathroom. Boxes are just everywhere now,” Bucky said.

“Well I can help fix that,” Steve offered, smiling warmly at Bucky.

There was something about that smile that reassured Bucky. He had been nervous due to Steve’s suspicious behavior, but now he seemed so laid back. Maybe nothing had actually been wrong and Bucky had just misinterpreted things. 

Steve took a sip from his drink before getting up to set down the living room rug. In fact, he set up the entire living room in ten minutes. Bucky couldn’t tell if he was being efficient because he wanted more time to just sit and talk or if he wanted to leave sooner.

“Only five days until performances start,” Bucky said. “Do you feel like you’re ready?”

Bucky could see Steve’s entire body tense up. There was definitely something that he wasn’t telling Bucky.

“I feel fine. You?” Steve responded.

“I feel great. I’m excited to prove myself with my first big role. I’m thinking that maybe I’ll get a good role in the Nutcracker now,” Bcuky said.

Steve merely nodded in response and took a sip of his soda. Was his secret regarding work? Maybe the show specifically? Or maybe it was nothing, maybe Bucky was reading into something that wasn’t even there.

“I’m excited for the dress rehearsal tomorrow,” Bucky said.

Steve became visibly more uncomfortable. Yeah, it was definitely something about work. Maybe he’d been yelled at for having a relationship with a coworker? Or he could be being replaced. Wait, he’d talked about possibly getting a new job. Maybe he’d gotten a new job and this would be his last show. But that felt like something he would tell Bucky about. 

“I like dress rehearsals because it’s fun to see everyone in their costumes,” Steve added. “I’ve already seen Nat’s and it’s absolutely gorgeous. Our costume department is really amazing.”

“They are. Both at their job and as people,” Bucky said. 

The costume department was full of Bucky’s friends. Well, he had two friends there. Jessica Drew and Cindy Moon. Cindy was actually just an intern there, as she was still in art school. Jessica was one of Bucky’s first friends at the company. Her son was absolutely adorable and she was very much a responsible mom friend. 

Honestly, Bucky loved all the people at the company. The other dancers, like Nat, were so supportive and sweet. The pit, like Steve and Molly, were really fun people to be around. The costume department, like Cindy and Jessica, were easy to talk to. Of course, there were plenty of other people at the company who were also amazing, but Bucky didn’t see them quite as much. There were only two people in the company that Bucky wasn’t a big fan of: Elektra and Tony.

Before their first rehearsal the next day, Bucky decided to pay Nat a visit. He thought she might have some good insight into what was going on with Steve. Because she was so high up in the company rankings, she often knew more about what was going on than the average company member. She was also very insightful when it came to relationships. 

“Hey,” Bucky greeted, walking into Nat’s room with two smoothies. A Pineapple Surf for himself and the Veggie Lemon Ginger Spinach for Nat. Yes, Steve had just bought him a smoothie last night, but you could never have too many.

Nat was sitting at her vanity, doing her hair. “Hey.”

“You’re looking prepared for this rehearsal,” Bucky said, setting her smoothie down in front of her.

She smiled at him through the mirror. “Thanks, Bucky. And yeah, I woke up early to make sure I was ready. I warmed up and stretched at home, which woke Matt up.”

“Yeah? Was he mad about it?” Bucky asked. 

“Nah, he was fine with it. He made us a nice breakfast,” Na answered.

“Well you’re a lot more prepared than I am,” Bucky retorted.

“I feel like I have to do more. You need minimal makeup and hair. So we’re probably at about the same level of ready,” Nat stated.

That was true. Bucky also warmed up and stretched at home, as he often did. Although, he did tend to rewarm up and stretch when he arrived at the company. Plus, the smoothie was his breakfast. All he really had to do was throw on his mascara and costume and be ready to go.

“Hey, Steve’s been acting really weird lately, especially when I talk about work. Do you know what’s going on?” Bucky asked.

“Steve’s just a weird guy. He’s probably nervous, and nervous for you. I mean, this is your first big role. He just wants you to do good,” Nat responded.

Natasha was probably right. Steve had no reason to hide something from Bucky, but being nervous for him was understandable. Honestly, Bucky was also nervous. A little less nervous now that he knew what was going on with Steve. Well, he didn’t know it for sure, but he had a suspicion that Nat was right.

“Are you ready to go full out?” Nat questioned. “I think Tony will be watching today.”

Bucky groaned. “Nooo, not Tony. Ever since his comments to me backstage, it’s felt weird. I have a feeling he doesn’t like me very much.”

“I don’t think he hates you or anything: you’re cool. Besides, he knows we’re friends and he loves me,” Nat said.

“I honestly don’t understand your relationship with him at all,” Bucky stated, sipping on his smoothie.

“I mean, he’s the one who found me. He saw me performing at my studio showcase and basically recruited me,” Nat explained. “And he really is a good guy, I like him a lot. We see each other probably once a month. Matt takes him out for drinks sometimes, too. But I doubt he dislikes you because he loves talent more than anything. He can see your talents.”

“That’s so sweet, thank you.”

“Well you wouldn’t have gotten this position if it weren’t for your talent.”

“I don’t think that’s entirely true,” said a voice from the hallway: Elektra.

Nat stood up from her vanity. “Hey, this conversation doesn’t involve you.”

“Well I’m just calling out your lies,” Elektra shot back.

“Elektra, I don’t care enough to lie,” Nat said.

Elektra rolled her eyes. “You know you didn’t get your position just from talent. If it were just about talent, you’d be the understudy.”

“Oh please, I can dance circles around you,” Nat responded.

“If you didn’t suck up to Tony so much, you’d just be a corps member. Everyone knows that you’re not even close to the most talented, Tony just thinks you’re hot and you play into it. I just know that if you were ugly, you’d probably be teaching stretching classes to seven year olds at your local studio,” Elektra said.

“Thanks for saying I’m prettier than you,” Nat retorted at Elektra, smiling at her.

Elektra rolled her eyes and stomped off. Obviously that one hit her where it hurt. If he was being honest, Bucky found it a little sad. Elektra was so jealous and insecure. Before Bucky got this role, he had been in the same boat. But he was never as rude as she was. Insinuating that Natasha had slept her way to the top was way too far. It was a low blow, especially considering it wasn’t true. Elektra was amazing, but Nat was still better. She was hands down the best in the company. She didn’t need to flirt, or sleep, with anyone in order to prove her worth.

“Well she’s extra salty today,” Nat said, stepping into her first costume.

“What else is new.”

“I just wish she would chill with the Tony stuff. I really don’t flirt with him, Matt and I are in a serious relationship. I bet if Matt never would have rejected her, she’d be sucking up to me 24/7.”

“I could see it. Hey, I’m gonna go change and stuff.

“See you on the stage.”

Bucky walked into his own dressing room, where he found Steve sitting on his armchair. He smiled at him.

“What brings you in here so early?” Bucky asked.

“I wanted to see you before we start rehearsal,” Steve answered.

“That’s sweet. I’m happy to see you. Last night was fun. Maybe you can spend the night next time,” Bucky suggested.

“Yeah, I’d really like that. And you can always stay at my place, too,” Steve offered. 

“Oh, I brought my slippers today,” Bucky said. “I figured they’d be nice to change into after we finish the dress rehearsal.”

Steve’s face flushed. “I’m sure they would be. I’m really glad that you like them.”

Bucky sat at his vanity and sprayed his hair with another layer of hair spray. He’d put some on at home, but he wanted to make sure it was secure.

As he was applying his mascara, Steve said, “You know, I was thinking that maybe we could skip the dress rehearsal today and go do something fun instead. We could pick up lunch, go bowling or something.”

Bucky laughed. “Oh god, can you imagine. That would be something else.”

“No, I’m serious,” Steve said.

Bucky turned around in his chair and looked at Steve. “What? We can’t miss our first dress rehearsal. Or any dress rehearsal. The performance is in a few days and we’re both super important parts of the show.”

Steve broke their eye contact, staring at the floor. “I just don’t really think you’re going to like dress rehearsal today. I think it’ll be hard. But just know that you’re so so talented and I love you a lot.”

“Thank you and I love you too. But, Steve, I’ve been through tons of dress rehearsals before. I know that they’re hard, but I can do it. You don’t need to be worried about me. I’m strong enough to get through it.”

“I know you are, baby,” Steve said. “I just want to protect you, you know?”

Bucky stood up and kissed him. “I do know. And it’s very sweet. But I promise that I’ll be alright. Okay?”

“Okay.”

Steve left so Bucky could put on his costume, which he absolutely loved. Seeing as this was his best role yet, this was also his best costume yet. He felt so powerful in it. It was a feeling second only to being with Steve. Bucky finished up his smoothie before making his way to the stage. Today he was going to prove himself to Tony: prove that he deserved this role and could do it better than anyone else in the company.

When Bucky opened the door to the stage, he stopped in his tracks. There was someone else on the stage, wearing the same costume as he was. And he was rehearsing lifts with Nat. 

Suddenly it hit him: he’d been replaced with his understudy.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope you liked the chapter! In the next chapter, Steve will have to deal with the aftermath of Bucky being replaced.


	12. Chapter 12 - Steve

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Steve has to make a choice to tell Bucky or to not, but he can't decide which would have a worse outcome.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi everyone! Thank you for sticking around for yet another chapter! I hope you enjoy.

Bucky Barnes was an emotional person. He always had been, and he probably always would be. In elementary school, Bucky was the kid who cried during every book they read and every movie they watched. In high school, however, he stopped crying at school. He didn’t want to deal with all the shit people would give him for it. He’d just cry when he was at home, sometimes with Steve. It broke his heart. Steve was glad he wasn’t there to see Bucky walk onto the stage.

Actually, Steve didn’t see Bucky at all that day. By the time he got down to the pit, Bucky had already gone home. Tony hadn’t given him any sort of other role in the show or anything, so he didn’t really have a reason to stay. The only opportunity Steve had to talk to people about what had happened was after their dress rehearsal, and there were a few people he wanted to talk to.

Steve walked into Nat’s dressing room as soon as he put his instrument away. She was still getting into her street clothes and taking her makeup off when he walked in.

“Oh, hey, what’s up?” Nat greeted.

“Not much. How did the dress rehearsal go?” Steve asked.

“Surprisingly well,” Nat answered. “We’ve done rehearsals with the understudies before, so it was fine. I wish I could’ve spoken to Bucky, though. I might go over there tonight. Or just call him, everything is so hectic right now with the show coming up so soon.”

“Yeah, I wish I could’ve seen him, too,” Steve stated.

“He seemed really upset,” Nat said.

“Understandable,” Steve said, sitting down on Nat’s chair.

“I really thought that Tony was just messing around when he said that stuff,” Nat observed. “I never thought that he’d replace someone so close to the show like that. And Bucky was honestly doing a good job.”

“Tony kinda told me that it was gonna happen,” Steve confessed. 

“Wait, what?” Nat looked up from the mirror and made eye contact with Steve. “You knew and never said anything?”

Steve blushed. Maybe he was in the wrong for this. “Yeah, Tony talked to me one day after rehearsal. He wanted to know how to, like, fire him from the role in the least destructive way.”

“So you just told him to replace him with absolutely no warning?”  
“Well I basically told him that I didn’t know how he should do it. He probably should have asked you what to do and not me. We just started being chill again, I didn’t know how to do that without him being upset.”

“Well what’s supposed to say when he finds out you knew and didn’t tell him?”

“He won’t find that out.”

“How do you know that?”

“I’m not going to let him.”

Natasha started to pack her bag to go home. Steve didn’t understand how she could bring everything in, somehow manage to spread all of it out across her dressing room, and then pack it back up and bring it home at the end of the day. Bucky did the exact same thing, so it wasn’t just Nat.

“It’s a lot for you to ask of me, you know,” Nat stated. “Bucky is my best friend. And this is information directly pertaining to him. It feels like something that I should tell him: something that I have to tell him.”

Steve started to feel badly about what he had done. But he hadn’t really done anything. In his mind, not telling Tony how to do it was the right thing to do. He had kept himself as uninvolved as possible. And Tony had asked him into his office, it wasn’t as if Steve had sought out the conversation. Maybe he should have warned Bucky already of time. But then again, that wasn’t his job. Tony had just put him in a really terrible position.

“Nat, please don’t tell him what happened,” Steve begged. “You don’t even know the full story.”

“Well then you can tell him the full story,” Nat responded.

Steve hesitated for a moment before nodding and saying, “You’ve got yourself a deal.”

Steve, quite honestly, felt like absolute shit after his conversation with Nat. Maybe he was a bad boyfriend for keeping his conversation with Tony a secret. But he didn’t want to jeopardize the relationship that he and Bucky had just built up. Feeling angry and confused, Steve decided to go talk to Tony.

He walked through the long halls down to Tony’s office, looking at the pictures on the wall on the way. There was a framed photo for every production since Tony took charge. This would’ve been the first time Bucky was featured on one of the photos. Steve felt like that was partially his fault.

Steve didn’t even knock before entering Tony’s office, where Tony was typing something on his computer.

“We need to talk,” Steve stated.

“Well come on in and sit down,” Tony offered.

Steve walked in and sat on one of Tony’s chairs. It was surprisingly uncomfortable.

“So, what’s up?” Tony asked. “Are you quitting or something? Because I don’t really want to replace you before the show, but I can.”

“Yeah, it seems like you’re really good at replacing people,” Steve remarked.

“Oh, so that’s what this is about,” Tony said, turning away from his computer and towards Steve.

“I think you waited way too long to do it. The show is in two days,” Steve said.

“Well I didn’t know how bad it was going beforehand,” Tony stated. “And besides, you didn’t exactly give me great advice on what to do.”

Steve scoffed. “That’s not my job and you know it. That’s literally what you’re here to do. And you knew he’s my boyfriend, that was a shitty thing to ask me to do. And now he’s upset and I’m the one who’s going to have to deal with it and I was directly involved in it.”

Tony rolled his eyes. “Oh please, you weren’t directly involved. I just asked you for some advice because I wanted to do it right. And you never even gave me advice, so you didn’t really do anything.”

“Well know it feels like I’m obligated to tell him what happened and that I knew beforehand,” Steve said.

Tony raised an eyebrow. “You think it’s a good idea to tell him that?” Tony asked.

“I don’t want to lie to him,” Steve stated.

“There are some things that are better left unsaid.

When Steve went home that night, he didn’t feel any better. In fact, he felt worse, which he didn’t even think was possible. It felt like he was being pulled in two different directions. Natasha wanted him to be honest and tell Bucky, whereas Tony wanted him to hide the truth from Bucky. Either way could potentially end badly. If he told him, there was a good chance that Bucky would blow up and break up with him. But if he didn’t tell Bucky and he found out later, he would for sure break up with Steve. Neither were good options.

Sam was working late that night, so Steve didn’t have to explain the full situation to him. He was good at giving advice, but Steve didn’t want anyone else caught up in this. He knew he’d have to make a decision on whether to tell Bucky or not. To do this, he decided to yet again use music. He could just play to get his feelings out and then decide which choice was right.

For this occasion, Steve felt that the best piece to play was the Haydn trumpet concerto. He couldn’t really describe why: he was just drawn to it. Steve took out his music and his trumpet and sat on his bed to play. It was definitely a bright and happy piece, which was not what he was currently feeling. He hoped that maybe this could change his mood.

The piece had a large focus on articulation as well as expression in general, so that’s what Steve played. He poured all this feelings out into this piece. It was such a relieving feeling. It felt like he was on top of the world after he finished. He now knew what to do. He put the trumpet away and decided to take a shower and put pajamas on before ordering food for dinner. He was going to give himself a chill night in before performance started and he had to go confront Bucky.

The next day after rehearsal, Steve drove over to Bucky’s apartment. Natasha had spoken to him last night and said that it was pretty bad. Apparently he had just completely shut down and was pretty much incapable of doing anything but wallowing in self pity. Steve understood that it was a shitty situation, but he couldn’t help but be annoyed by Bucky’s reaction. In their field, the person doing the job always had to be the best. Sometimes you don’t get the job because there’s someone else who’s better, and you just have to accept that. Steve knew that this was a little bit of a different circumstance because Bucky had already gotten the job, but Steve couldn’t help his negative feelings about it. Maybe Bucky should have worked harder.

Steve knocked on the door to Bucky’s apartment, anxious that he was too upset to answer the door. To his surprise, Bucky answered the door after only about 30 seconds. Bucky was wearing joggers and a Nutcracker t-shirt from the previous year. He looked like he had just woken up, despite it being four in the afternoon.

“Hi,” Bucky greeted.

“Hey, can I come in?” Steve replied.

Bucky didn’t answer, he just stepped aside so Steve could come in. God, his apartment was so cute and unique since they decorated it. It felt like a place where Bucky would live and thrive.

“Why are you here?” Bucky asked in a tone that wasn’t necessarily aggressive but also… wasn’t aggressive.

“I figured that I’d come check up on you after what happened yesterday,” Steve stated, sitting down on Bucky’s couch.

“After saying absolutely nothing to me all day yesterday; the day that it happened?” Bucky questioned.

Steve blushed. Maybe he should have come over last night instead. Or at least called. Or texted. Yeah, that was a minor fuck up. He’d low key ghosted his boyfriend after he lost his job. Well, he didn’t loose his job, he just lost his part.

“I’m sorry, Buck,” Steve apologized. “I should’ve called. I knew Natasha was going to come over so I thought that you probably wouldn’t want me here at the same time. And I kinda thought the same thing about calling: that you were probably busy with Nat. There’s no excuse for me to not text, though.”

Bucky nodded. “Yeah, but it’s fine. You’re right, Nat was here pretty late. Besides, it’s whatever. I knew I wasn’t about to rise in the company ranks.”

“You were doing so good. So you don’t even care that you lost the part?” Steve asked.

“I do care, but I can’t let it affect me that deeply,” Bucky answered. “If I want another big role, I can’t make a fuss about loosing this one.”

Well this was a much different Bucky than what Nat had prepared him for. Maybe he’d slept on it and came to this realization. Steve had expected to get a little annoyed at Bucky, but he was being pretty insightful.

“I agree, that’s just how it is in this industry. The second someone better comes along, you get replaced. And everyone is on both sides of that at some point,” Steve rationalized. 

Bucky stood silent for a moment, not responding to that. Maybe it had come across rude. Maybe he just didn’t have anything else to add.

After a few seconds, Steve patted the couch cushion next to him. “Come sit.”

Bucky obliged, sitting down next to Steve. Even though they were right next to each other, it felt as though they were miles apart. Bucky was leaning away from Steve.

“So, there’s something I should probably tell you,” Steve said.

“Then just say it,” Bucky requested.

Steve hesitated. Bucky was obviously not in the best place right now, he didn’t want to hurt him further. At the same time, it would be much worse if Bucky found out later, on his own. He’d just have to break the news.

“Are you going to say it or not?” Bucky asked.

Steve could feel him getting more agitated. Oh god, this wasn’t a good thing to tell him when he was agitated. But it was now or never, he couldn’t keep this from Bucky. Besides, he was a very bad liar.

“Tony told me that he was gonna replace you before he did it.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Whew, we're getting so close to the end! But don't worry, a Nat and Matt story will be coming shortly after this one ends. I'm sorry that this chapter was a little bit shorter, but I've been super busy recently. For that reason, there will likely be a few week break between the end of this story and the start of the next so I can get a head start. I really appreciate all the reads, comments, and likes, it helps fuel my motivation. In the next chapter, Bucky will react to this big news from Steve.


	13. Chapter 13 - Bucky

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Bucky tries to figure out how to deal with what Steve's done. A little advice from Matt goes a long way.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey everyone! Thank you so much for sticking with me this far, only two more weeks to go! I really hope you enjoy this chapter!

Steve Rogers thought he could get away with anything. And in a sense, he could. Steve had kind of always been a golden child. In school, all the teachers loved him, so even if he did something wrong, he never took the blame. His parents were just too nice to ever let him get in trouble for anything. Bucky was the same way. He loved Steve so much that he could never stay mad at him for long. 

This, however, was a slightly different situation. Some warning from Steve would have been nice. When Bucky walked out to that stage, he wasn’t expecting to see that his understudy had replaced him. He didn’t really know how to react to that situation. What he had done was just stand there stupidly for a few minutes. Tony had to come up to him and tell him that he had basically been fired. In front of the entire company. It was absolutely humiliating. With some sort of warning from Steve, he could’ve found a way to fire back at him, not just stand there dumbfounded. But standing there dumbfounded seemed to be a skill of his, as that’s exactly what he did when Steve told him.

“He told you what?” Bucky asked, not believing what he was hearing.

Steve blushed and repeated, “He told me he was going to replace you before he did it.”

“And you didn’t tell me?” Bucky exclaimed.

“Buck, I didn’t know how to do that,” Steve explained. “Tony really put me in a hard place. He told me because he wanted advice on how to do it. I didn’t tell him anything, I didn’t want to be involved in this. I didn’t want to tell you because I didn’t want to make you upset.”

“Well I’m upset now and I also embarrassed myself in front of the entire company,” Bucky said.

“Look, I’m really sorry, Buck, I should’ve given you a warning,” Steve apologized. “But you need to understand that Tony is the one to be mad at here.”

“I’m not blaming you for not stopping him, I’m blaming you for not telling me,” Bucky said.

Honestly, Buccky didn’t really want to deal with this anymore. He didn’t want to fight with Steve. He loved Steve, he was just pissed off at him. And for a valid reason. He wanted to ask Steve to leave, but he also didn’t want to create any more drama.

Bucky sighed and sat down on his couch. “Look, I appreciate you coming to check up on me and you being honest about what happened, but I really don’t want to be around you right now. I’m angry and you being here isn’t going to do anything to help fix that situation.”

Steve blushed and nodded, making no verbal response. He made brief eye contact with Bucky, looking upset, before he walked out the door. Bucky felt bad that Steve felt bad, but it was ultimately his fault. He wasn’t going to pretend to not be upset when Steve had clearly done something wrong.

Bucky's initial reaction to Steve leaving was to call Nat. The issue there was that he was still sensitive about not being in the show anymore. Nat would for sure talk about the show, considering it was so close. He couldn't blame her for that, he just didn't want to hear it. And she probably didn't want to hear all his negativity, either. Bucky didn't really have any other friends. There was Steve, but considering he wanted to talk about Steve, that was a no go. Sam was too close to Steve and not close enough to Bucky. Maybe Matt. Yeah, Matt would do.

Bucky walked into Matt’s apartment without any warning. Matt wasn't really into using his phone, so he figured it was a better bet to just go. Their apartment building was insanely cool. If he could afford it, Bucky would buy a place there. It was very industrial, with lots of exposed brick and muted colors. It was definitely the right vibe for Matt, and not a bad one for Nat. Maybe Bucky could eventually move in there with Steve.

“Hello?” Matt called. It sounded like he was in the bedroom or kitchen.

“Hey, it’s just me,” Bucky said, walking into the living room and draping his coat over the back of the couch.

Matt walked out from his bedroom and into the living room. “You scared me, I wasn’t expecting you to come over today. Nat told me about what happened, I’m really sorry.”

Bucky blushed and sat down on the couch. He wasn’t sure what Natasha had exactly told Matt. Did he know that Tony was a complete douche about it? Tony and Matt were good friends, seeing as Matt was a long time supporter of the company. There’s no way he would see Tony as in any way at fault for the situation.

“Well, I guess it happens to everyone. It’s fine, there will be other shows. But to replace me so close to the show and with no warning was a pretty shitting thing to do,” Bucky observed.

Matt nodded and sat down next to him. “I agree, I can’t believe he did that. There must be something up with him, he’s not normally an asshole like that.”

“I think he has something against me, honestly,” Bucky said. 

“Tony? No way, you’re great. I can’t imagine he wouldn’t like you,” Matt said.

“I just don’t like him very much. I think that’s why,” Bucky speculated. “I feel like he’s creepy. It’s like he’s always looking for a new girl to mess around with in the company. And they’re always young and new hires, so they couldn’t say no to them. It’s taking advantage of his power.”

“I understand that. But from my experience, I don’t think he’s a creepy dude. He used to be in a long term relationship and it kinda fucked him up when it ended. Now he just sleeps around because he feels like he can’t ever be in a long term relationship again. I don’t think he’s trying to take advantage of these girls,” Matt explained.

“He’s a really weird dude,” Bucky stated.

Matt stood up and walked into the kitchen. “Do you want something to drink? We’ve got lots of beer and sodas.”

“Just a water would be good with me,” Bucky said.

Matt came back in with a bottle of water for Bucky and a bottle of beer for himself. Matt was a really good host in that way. He always asked to make sure everyone had something to eat or drink, whether they were too cold or too hot, and if they wanted something else on the tv or radio. Natasha, on the other hand, was not at all like that. She expected you to just get yourself something if you were hungry and that you could find your own blanket if you were cold. In a lot of ways Matt and Nat were the same, but there were also a lot of ways that they were different. Bucky wanted a relationship like theirs so bad.

“You wanna know the worst thing about all of this?” Bucky asked, taking a sip on his water.

“Yeah, shoot,” Matt said.

“Steve knew ahead of time,” Bucky said.

Matt looked over at him. “Wait, what?”

“I guess that Tony told Steve that he wanted help figuring out how to basically fire me,” Bucky stated. “But Steve wouldn’t tell him anything, so I guess that’s good. But he didn’t give me any type of warning that that was going to happen. I was humiliated in front of the entire company, and Steve could’ve saved me from that.”

Matt contemplated what he had said for a moment before responding, “I think you need to look at the position Steve was put into here, too. If he told you, he would be going against Tony, his boss. That could put his job in jeopardy. But if he didn’t tell you, then he’d be hurting you. But he knows that you love him so much that he’s allowed to make mistakes. That’s something you shouldn’t take for granted.”

Matt was right. He was randomly very good at giving relationship advice. Also he was hot, so he really had everything going for him. Nat was lucky to have him in the same way that Bucky was lucky to have Steve. Steve was just trying to protect him and his job. If Steve had been the one to tell Bucky, Bucky would’ve taken it a lot harder. He’d have to apologize to Steve for the way he’d reacted.

Bucky walked into the company building the day before the first performances started. He wanted to see what he got replaced with. He also wanted to see his boyfriend and best friend and just support every person who had worked so hard on the show. It was already sold out, so he wouldn’t have any other opportunity to watch it. Hopefully Tony wouldn’t be there to yell at him. 

“Oh my gosh, Bucky,” Natasha exclaimed when she saw Bucky walk in, running over to him. “Matt said he saw you last night and I was thinking about how much I missed you. It sucks not seeing you everyday. You could still come to company class, you know.”

“Yeah, I know. I just need to wait until the performances are done. It’s a little too much for me right now,” Bucky said.

“It sucks that you have to miss out on our big show instead of Nutcracker. I’ve done that show every year since I was three. I can’t stand it anymore,” Nat stated.

“I still like it. It’s a magical Christmas moment for me everytime we perform it. You should probably get out to the stage, though. You guys are about to start and you kinda have the lead role,” Bucky said.

“Oh shit, I do. Well, I’m so glad you’re here. I love you,” Nat said, kissing Bucky’s cheek and rushing off.

Bucky smiled to himself. Nat was such a sweet person and a great friend. He could hear the pit warming up in the auditorium, so he was too late to catch Steve before the dress rehearsal started. All he had to do now was find a seat.

Bucky walked into the auditorium through the back doors, making his way towards the middle rows. The middle of the middle row was always his favorite view. The balconies were known for having the best view, but it felt too much like watching a performance. Sitting in his favorite spot made him feel completely immersed in the story. 

It was odd to watch someone else dance the role he had spent so long learning. And to see the chemistry between his understudy and Nat just completely killed him. As much as he hated to admit it, Tony had been right: his understudy was better than him.

At the end of the performance, Bucky had tears in his eyes. This was a ballet that every little kid had dreams of performing in. If he couldn’t even keep the role he had earned, what made him think he could ever get any role again. It was pretty obvious that Tony didn’t like him, so he felt like he had no chance. 

“I heard Nat say you were here and I honestly didn’t believe it,” Steve said, walking up the rows to Bucky, trumpet in hand.

“I wanted to see you perform,” Bucky said, smiling at him. “I can’t get tickets to any of the performances, so today was my only chance.

Steve leaned in and kissed him, softly and passionately. Bucky could practically feel the love radiating off of him. He was so glad he had gone to Matt: he was completely right. Steve had done the best with the hard situation he had been put in.

“Look, I’m really sorry for getting so upset with you the other day,” Bucky apologized. “I understand that it wasn’t your fault that I got replaced. The only person I can blame is myself. I just wasn’t good enough. Tony made the best decision for the company and you made the best decision for me. He shouldn’t have put you in that position, that was a dick move. And I shouldn’t have gotten so upset. I’m really sorry.”

Steve smiled at him. “Buck, I know. I know and it doesn’t even matter. I knew you were upset and I knew it wasn’t because of me.”

“Yeah?”

“And it didn’t even matter because I knew.”

“Knew what?”

“That we love each other too much to let the other get away again.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope you enjoyed! I can't believe we're so close to being done with this. I know I'd previously said that I think the next story will be following Nat and Matt, but I think I've changed my mind. I'd like to tell a narrative that goes back and forth between Elektra and Nat. I think it'll be extremely interesting, so I hope you all will stick around for another one of these. Thank you so much for all of the support!


	14. Chapter 14 - Steve

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Steve gets prepared for his big night, but he's sad he can't spend it with Bucky.

Bucky Barnes was recovering quickly. After all, it took him years to talk to Steve again after an incident that wasn’t his fault in the first place. This, again, was an incident that wasn’t Steve’s fault. This time Bucky realized that and decided not to hold a grudge against him. A part of Steve still felt bad, though. Telling Bucky what Tony had told him right away would’ve probably been the smart choice. He’d want a warning before getting fired, too. 

Steve was surprised that Bucky showed up to their last rehearsal. It was the last thing he would’ve expected. Still, he was excited that he got to see their show and that he was over the situation enough to come watch the show he was kicked out of. 

“So, wanna go out to dinner or something now that we’re done?” Steve asked, leading Bucky to the rehearsal room.

“Yeah, that sounds good to me,” Bucky said. “You know, I’ve never really been back here before.”

“Seriously? You’ve worked here longer than I have,” Steve stated.

Bucky blushed a little. “That’s true, but I’ve never had any reason to come back here before. I mean, you’re the only person in the pit that I’m close with, and we weren’t close until very recently. And Tony obviously hates me, so I would never come back here to see him or anything.”

“Yeah, that’s a fair point,” Steve said, walking into the rehearsal room.

Everyone from the pit was packing up their instruments and talking excitedly to each other. Performance season was the most exciting part of the year. They were already planning their after-party that was only for the pit. He put away his trumpet with Bucky by his side. Steve glanced around the room and noticed Molly looking over at them, smiling. She was super adorable and Steve knew how happy she was that he and Bucky were dating again. 

“So, this is where you spend most of your work day?” Bucky asked, running his hand along the edge of his stand.”

“Yeah, here and the practice rooms,” Steve said. “Honestly, more often in there than here. We need to learn our parts individually before we can put it together. I guess it’s a little different for you guys. But it’s harder for us to rely on each other, we need to be absolutely certain we know what we’re doing.”

“Well so do we,” Bucky defended.

Steve backtracked, “I didn’t mean that to be offensive. I only meant that it’s a lot easier for us to learn everything separately and then put it back together, whereas you guys learn everything together. It’s just because what you guys are doing is physical, you need to be aware of where everyone is spatially.”

“We do. Well, I probably won’t need to ever again,” Bucky said.

Steve wrapped his arm around Bucky’s waist, allowing Bucky to rest his head on his shoulder. “Hey, you’re amazing. That might not have been the right role for you, but there’ll be one that is,” Steve reassured. 

“Yeah, we’ll see. I’m not confident that Tony’s gonna want me here for Nutcracker season,” Bucky said.

“You’ve been here so long and you’re good, there’s no way he’s going to fire you,” Steve said.

It was hard to see how discouraged Bucky had become. When they were kids, he was super ambitious. He spent his time divided between dreaming and making his dreams come true. Now he didn’t even think he could keep his job. Steve thought he would keep his job. Some people just aren’t made for lead roles, but that’s okay. There has to be people to fill the background roles. The chances of Tony just straight up firing Bucky was slim.

“We just have to wait and see. Let’s go get some dinner, celebrate your performance,” Bucky suggested.

Steve smiled and nodded. “Let’s do it.”

The fact that Bucky switched so fast from being sad about his job to happy about Steve’s was major growth. It made Steve feel really happy to be with him. It was draining to be with someone always pitying themself, which Bucky no longer was. He even paid for both of their meals at the fancy new restaurant they tried. Steve could tell Bucky really cared about him.

Steve and Bucky hadn’t spent the night at each other’s houses yet, but Steve was very tempted to start it the night before the first performance of Swan Lake. He loved Bucky so much that he didn’t want to spend any time without him. Despite this, he knew that he needed sleep before the big day. He’d have to invite Bucky to sleep over the night after the last performance.

When Steve woke up in the morning, the house smelled absolutely amazing. Normally he would shower first thing in the morning, but he couldn’t resist checking out what smelled so good. He pulled on an old t-shirt and descended down the stairs. Sam was standing in the kitchen, cooking something over the stove.

“Making breakfast?” Steve asked, walking into the kitchen.

“Yeah, it’s your big day,” Sam responded.

“So this is the celebration food?” Steve questioned, sitting down at their table.

“Eggs and potato hash,” Sam explained. “And I picked up some good doughnuts and coffee to really enhance the experience.

Steve smiled at him. “You are absolutely amazing.”

Sam was really the best friend Steve could ask for. The fact that he was taking the time out of his day just to make Steve’s day special was amazing. The only other person who ever did that for him was Bucky. Both were Steve’s two closest friends in high school, which was kind of weird. He did have new friends that weren’t from high school, but they were basically all from the pit. God, maybe he would have to get out there more and get more diverse friends.

Sam walked over to the table with two full plates and cups of coffee. He set down a plate in front of Steve.

“There you go,” he said.

“This is amazing. You’re great. I don’t know how I got such a cool friend,” Steve complimented.

“I will take this food away from you if you keep talking like that,” Sam threatened.

Steve laughed. “I just appreciate it, man. So, you got tickets for tonight, right? By my parents? They’re gonna love seeing you.”

“What about Bucky’s parents?” Sam asked, sipping on his coffee.

“Oh shit, I have no idea,” Steve said. “Bucky never said anything about that to me. I assume he told them but I honestly don’t know. I assume they won’t be coming if he did tell them. But if they are coming, they’ll also be sitting by my parents.”

“Think they’ll remember who I am?”

“Oh, they for sure remember you.”

The idea that Bucky might not have told his parents was really scary to Steve. He knew it wasn’t his issue, but it was still making him anxious. Now that he was dating Bucky, all of Bucky’s issues were also his own. It would be very uncomfortable if he forgot to tell them and then they showed up, only to find he wasn’t even dancing. It was something Steve didn’t want to deal with and something Bucky definitely didn’t want to deal with.

“So, you feeling ready to perform tonight?” Sam inquired.

Steve nibbled at his doughnut and nodded. “Yeah, I honestly could’ve performed a long time ago. I’ve had my part down for weeks.”

“See, I think you need to get a job at a real orchestra. Then you get to perform more, work on more pieces, and just be more challenged and busy,” Sam suggested.

This was something Sam had been pushing for a while. He couldn’t lie, Steve had really been thinking about it. At the company, they usually did four performances a year. One of which was always the Nutcracker, so he really only had to learn three new shows a year. In a professional orchestra, he would do probably thirty concerts a year. And it would pretty much always be new music. Bucky complicated the whole situation. Before, the only thing holding him back from the company was his friends. Now it was his boyfriend.

Steve finished up his meal, which was delicious, in a short period of time. He was going to do the dishes since Sam made the food, but Sam insisted that he shouldn’t since it was a big day for him. Steve was very appreciative. He took a shower, but he didn’t put on his nice clothes yet. He was going to change into it at the company. He had to be there at five thirty but the show started at seven, so he didn’t want to get his nice clothes all sweaty. It’s what he did every time. 

Sam worked until six, so Steve had the house to himself for a large chunk of time. Normally this would prompt him to invite Bucky over, but not today. It felt weird to have Bucky come over on the day he should’ve been preparing to make his big debut. Bucky deserved a day to sulk and Steve deserved a day to celebrate.

Steve’s day to celebrate the first performance was spent doing basically nothing. He watched a lot of reality tv and ate some popcorn with Pepsi, but that was it. At five fifteen, he grabbed his clothes and got in the car to go. The drive wouldn’t take fifteen minutes most likely, but he liked being early. Honestly, he wasn’t quite sure why they had to be there so soon before the performance. All they had to do was warm up, but that didn’t take an hour and a half. That’s why he brought his change of clothes, he didn’t want to just hang out in a suit for that long. 

Molly was in the rehearsal hall with her tuba all ready to go when Steve walked in. She always had to be very prepared, it was adorable. She was already wearing her concert outfit, of course. Tonight it was a black, tank top jumpsuit with white ruffles on the sleeves. It was super cute, but a little more grown up than what Molly normally wore. Usually she wore dresses with halter necks and a-line skirts. 

“I like the new look,” Steve complimented, sitting down next to Molly.

Molly beamed up at him. “Thank you. I just got it last weekend. I like to get one new outfit for every show we do.”

“This one is more unique than the other, I love it,” Steve commented.

“I figured it would fit my tuba better,” Molly stated.

“That’s a good thought,” Steve said.

In some ways, he felt like Molly was his little sister. He felt very protective over her. He also thought that everything she did was adorable. She was pretty much the baby of the pit, so everyone felt the same way.

“Are your parents coming tonight?” Molly asked, using a polishing cloth to shine up her tuba.

“Yeah, they should be,” Steve answered. “They’re coming with Bucky’s parents, I think.”

“Bucky’s parents are coming?” Molly questioned. “I thought he wasn’t in the show.”

“He isn’t, but they already bought their tickets. All the shows are sold out, you know,” Steve explained.

“I guess it’s cool that they’re coming to see it,” Molly said.

Molly didn’t have parents, so that wasn’t really something she could relate to. That was probably why so many of the pit members felt so paternal towards her. It was just the natural reaction.

“Are you going to put your suit on?” Molly asked. “It makes you look very sharp.”

Steve laughed a little. “Sharp?”

Molly smiled at him and nodded. “It does. I like it.”

“Well, in that case, I’ll put it on just for you,” Steve said.

He changed into his suit and spent the rest of the evening trying not to get it sweaty before the performance. He went to visit Natasha, but not for long because this was a big night for her. He saw Tony in the hallway and they exchanged a few polite words. It was extremely awkward after everything that had happened with Bucky.

Before he knew it, it was time to descend to the pit. He took his trumpet and his music and headed out. The audience was packed full, but Steve still tried to look for his parents. After a minute of searching, he couldn’t find them. Oh well, he knew they were there. Or would be there if they weren’t already. 

After a few minutes of warming up, Steve heard someone call his name from above the pit. He assumed it was his parents, but upon looking up, he discovered that it wasn’t.

“Hi,” Bucky said, smiling down at Steve.

“Hi, baby. I didn’t know you were coming,” Steve said.

“Well I had to come and support you, of course,” Bucky said.

Steve had absolutely no idea how Bucky managed to pull that one off. The show had been sold out for weeks, and Bucky didn’t have a ticket. But the fact that he managed to get one to support Steve, even after being fired from the show, meant a lot to him.

Steve stood on his tip toes and Bucky bent down over the wall for a kiss.

“Bucky?” Steve asked.

“Hmm?” Bucky responded.

“I love you.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wow, I can't believe we're so close to done. After the final chapter next week, I will be taking a little bit of time off to get a head start on the next chapter in the series. I plan on it coming out early December, so stay on the lookout for that. Thank you to everyone who's read this far, it means the world to me. I hope you enjoyed this week's chapter and get ready for next week's chapter where Steve and Bucky will wrap up this portion of their lives. (Don't worry, they will have frequent appearances throughout the series)


	15. Chapter 15 - Bucky

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Bucky sees Steve perform and falls deeper and deeper in love.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey everyone! Thank you so much for getting this far! I hope you've enjoyed this ride as much as I have, and I hope you enjoy how this wraps up!

Steve Rogers was absolutely wonderful. It was almost impossible to find any flaws in him. Watching the ballet just further proved that point. It had been such a long time since Bucky was able to go see a ballet: normally he was performing in it. But seeing his best friend dance the lead and his boyfriend play the music just amazed him. They were both absolutely spectacular. It made him forget that he was even supposed to be in it in the first place.

Bucky’s parents and Steve’s parents both did come to the show, but Bucky convinced them to go have dinner together and not with Steve and Bucky. He wanted this to be a special night for the two of them. He’d planned that Steve would go over to his apartment and he’d make them dinner. Now, his apartment wasn’t the best and he had barely any experience cooking, but it was the thought that counted.

As soon as the ballet finished, Bucky knew he had to go see Natasha. Yes, Steve was his boyfriend, but Nat was his best friend and the lead of the show. 

Surprisingly, Nat’s dressing room wasn’t packed full of people. If it wasn’t on the first show, it surely would be on the last show. Matt and Nat were the only ones in there. Bucky was surprised to not see Tony.

“Hey, good job tonight,” Bucky congratulated, walking into the dressing room.

Nat turned around and smiled at him. “Bucky, I didn’t know you were coming tonight. Thank you.”

“I couldn’t miss it,” Bucky said.

“I think this was my favorite show I’ve ever seen performed here,” Matt said, sitting down at Natasha’s vanity.

Even though it wasn’t meant to be offensive, Bucky was a little offended by what Matt had said. He was supposed to be in the show. If he had been, would it still have been Matt’s favorite? Because it would’ve been a completely different show. Bucky had to remind himself that Matt was, in fact, blind, and that this was really not as big of a deal as he was making it out to be.

“It kinda made me sad that I don’t get to actually just watch a ballet very often,” Bucky said.

“Maybe during the week-long break before Nutcracker rehearsals start we could travel somewhere to go see a show,” Nat suggested.

“I could go for a road trip,” Matt stated.

“As long as I can bring Steve along as well,” Bucky bargained. 

“Well, of course,” Natasha said, starting to peel off her costume and put on her street clothes. “Speaking of, where is he? I thought you’d bring him in here with you.”

“Oh, he’s talking with his parents. And probably mine, too,” Bucky explained.

Nat nodded and started to pack up all her things to go. As always, she had brought a ton of shit from home and somehow managed to spread it all around her room. Bucky helped her pick up a few items, but he also wasn’t completely sure which items she was planning on leaving for the next night of performances. It felt like such a bittersweet moment. Yes, he had gotten to see his best friend and boyfriend perform, but he’d also missed out on the opportunity himself. 

As Bucky continued to help tidy up, he heard the door swing open and someone walk in. He was expecting Steve, so he was severely disappointed to see Tony waltz in.

“Absolutely amazing job tonight,” Tony greeted, kissing Nat’s cheek. “That was maybe your most spectacular performance yet.”

Natasha blushed and began to tie her shoes. “Thank you. I think it might have been my favorite show to perform in. Something about Swan Lake is just absolutely magical.”

Matt nodded his head in agreement. “It’s a great ballet. But you’ve got to give yourself some of the credit, Tony. You’re really the one who makes all of this happen.”

“Trust me, I give myself a lot of credit,” Tony remarked, smiling at Matt.

Bucky rolled his eyes at that comment. Tony was one of the most self important people he had ever met. Sure, Tony watched over everything that happened with the show, but most of the work was done by other people. The stage managers, the principal dancers, the conductor, the list was practically endless of people who played a bigger role in the success of the show than Tony.

Seeing as he was not a fan of Tony, Bucky started to leave, hoping to catch up with Steve and their parents. 

As he was walking out, Tony stated, “Hey, Bucky, I’m glad you could make it to the show tonight. Hopefully you can make it to the Nutcracker, too.”

For the time being, Bucky was going to let that one slide. If Bucky was going to get fired, he’d deal with that when it happened. He didn’t need to spend all his time worrying over it. Right now he just wanted to find Steve and have a good evening celebrating.

Of course, Steve and Bucky were caught up in conversation with their parents for almost an hour before they were able to leave the company. Now that they were officially dating, their parents wanted to know all the details. Bucky could tell that his parents were a little concerned about the whole thing, but he ignored it. They didn’t even know the full story of what had happened all those years ago.

When they finally escaped their parents, Bucky had convinced Steve to drive over to his place. It was a little awkward for the two of them to drive over there separately, but Steve didn’t want to leave his car in the company lot overnight. Besides, it would allow Bucky to blast Ariana Grande as loudly as he wanted with no fear of judgement.

Bucky’s apartment was the cleanest it had been in months when Steve and Bucky walked in. He had made sure to spend half his day tidying up, seeing as this was the first time Steve was spending the night. It made him really nervous to think that Steve could find something out of place in his apartment and never want to stay over again. He couldn’t risk that happening.

Steve plopped down on the couch and put his feet up on the coffee table. “Shit, I’m so tired now. Something about performing just wears me out.”

“I’ve noticed. Somehow you’re even more tired than Nat,” Bucky teased.

“So, what’s for dinner?” Steve asked. “Chinese takeout?”

“No, I’m going to cook something,” Bucky answered. 

Steve said, “No way. You cook things other than, like, frozen pizza? I thought you lived off takeout and Smoothie King.”

Bucky blushed a little. “Well, I do. But not tonight.”

In reality, Bucky had no cooking experience. Anything he ate that wasn’t from a restaurant was from the freezer section or someone else made it for him. Tonight he was going to attempt to make what seemed like the easiest thing to make. He had bought a spice packet that came with a recipe on the back for some sort of southwest inspired chicken skillet. All he had to do was cut up the frozen, pre-cooked chicken he bought, mix it with beans and corn, throw on the seasoning, and cook it over the stove. It seemed easy enough for him.

“So, are you going to need help making dinner?” Steve questioned.

Steve and Sam were both quite healthy, so one of them always cooked their meals. Steve had experience and could probably do a better job than Bucky. But what Bucky wanted was to cook for his boyfriend to celebrate his big night, not make his boyfriend cook for him.

“No, you relax while I cook. I know you’re tired,” Bucky said.

“Wake me up for food if I fall asleep,” Steve requested.

Bucky got a cherry Pepsi out of his fridge and tossed it to Steve. “Drink that, then you won’t fall asleep.”

Ever since they started dating, Bucky had kept a stash of cherry Pepsi at his place for when Steve came over. He probably drank three cans a day minimum.

“Are you sure you don’t want any help? I feel bad just sitting here while you do all the work,” Steve said.

“Hey, it’s your big night tonight. We’re celebrating your show, that means you get to relax,” Bucky reassured.

Bucky got his chicken out of the fridge and began to cut it to bite sized pieces. He was so glad he got it precooked, he couldn’t deal with disgusting raw meat like that. He slid the chicken into a bowl and began to rummage through his drawers for a can opener. Because he mainly ate out, he really had no idea what kitchen supplies he had and where they were. In the third drawer he looked through, he found the can opener. He opened the beans and corn and added them to the bowl before mixing it all together with the seasoning. Believe it or not, this was the most involved cooking he had done in a long time. Bucky glanced over to the couch, only to find Steve sipping on his Pepsi and watching him cook. Bucky blushed and threw all his food into a pan on the stove.

“When was the last time you cooked food?” Steve asked, obviously amused.

“Uhhh, real food?” Bucky responded. “Probably not since high school.”

“I don’t understand how you can eat like that but still look like that,” Steve commented.

“It’s all ballet. I’d probably be three hundred pounds if it weren’t for my job,” Bucky said.

Bucky walked into the living room and sat down next to Steve on the couch. He didn’t really have to check back in on the chicken until it was done. Bucky looked around the room at all the cool tapestries on the wall and rugs on the floor, thinking about how he and Steve wouldn’t be dating now if it weren’t for Bucky’s desperate need to redecorate. That led him to the thought that he may never be able to use his cute dressing room again.

“I was talking to Matt and Nat today about us going on a little road trip next week,” Bucky said, putting his feet up on the coffee table next to Steve’s.

“Yeah? Where to?” Steve questioned.

“Somewhere where we can go see a ballet,” Bucky answered. “We never really get to see them because we’re always in them. And there’s a week off next week before auditions start, as you know.”

“And am I invited to come along on this trip?” Steve asked.

“You’re invited to be anywhere I am.”

The dinner was a complete success. Both Steve and Bucky thought that it tasted absolutely amazing. Bucky would’ve liked to think that this meal would inspire him to start cooking his own food more often, but he knew it wouldn’t. He knew he was lazy when it came to food. They’d gotten home from the show quite late, so it was time for bed by the time they were done eating.

“Okay, I’m truly sorry if my bedroom isn’t the best,” Bucky apologized. “This apartment is just kinda crappy overall. I want a new one but I can’t afford that yet. Ideally I’d get a place where Matt’s apartment is, but he’s making a lawyer’s wage and I’m making a corps de ballet’s wage.”

Steve smiled at the comment. “Buck, I’ve been here many times before. There’s no need to start apologizing now.”

“Maybe I should’ve started sooner, then,” Bucky commented.

Honestly, Bucky was not a pajamas kind of guy. He normally slept in his boxers and that was it. But with Steve here, he felt the need to act a little more civilized. He dug out a pair of Christmas pajama pants from the depths of his dresser and changed into them.

“Christmas pants already?” Steve asked, laughing a little.

“Christmas starts when Nutcracker season starts, and that’s practically here,” Bucky reasoned.

“I don’t even go for the pants look at all, so I can’t relate,” Steve said.

Bucky blushed. So maybe it would’ve been okay for him to go in just boxers. Oh well, it was too late now. But the idea of him and Steve being in such an intimate setting like this was just… flustering. It reminded him of back when they were kids: when they had first started dating. Their parents had never questioned anything because they had been best friends for so long, but there was definitely behavior going on that was worthy of being questioned.

Steve took both his pants and shirt off before pulling up the covers and getting into Bucky’s bed. Bucky became extremely flustered. Just a few weeks ago, he would never have thought this could happen. Yes, their relationship had moved fast, but they were just picking up where they had left off. Steve looked so amazing: Bucky was overjoyed that they had progressed to this point. 

Bucky got in on the other side and rested his head on Steve’s shoulder. This was like a dream life that he was living.

“I can’t believe we’ve come this far since what happened in high school,” Steve said, running his fingers through Bucky’s hair.

“Yeah, neither can I,” Bucky responded.

“But you know what?”

“What?”

“I always knew this would happen.”

“Yeah? How?”

“Because I’m with you till the end of the line, Buck.”   


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm not crying, you are. But seriously guys, this is the first fanfiction I've ever written all the way through. I'm really proud of this and love the story I've created. Thank you so much for all the support along the way! If you've enjoyed this, stay tuned for the next story in the series, Allegro, which will follow Nat and Elektra and be posted towards the beginning of December. I'm sure I will have at least one one-shot posted between now and then, so also be on the look-out for that. I'm debating whether I'll be posting one or two chapters a week for that, but I should know by the time it goes up. For real, thank you so much for making this ride as great as it was. I'm sure there's no one reading this right now, but if there is, you're amazing and I love you. Please stay tuned to see how this world progresses, it's certainly not over yet.

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading! I hope you liked it and continue to follow Steve and Bucky's story! : )


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